nths."

"Let's see!" said the middy. "Oh! this is getting too jolly," he added.
"Let's open some of the boxes too. Why, the next thing will be that I
shall be finding a new uniform all ready for putting on, but--oh, dear!"
he added, dolefully.

"Well, of all the fellows," cried Aleck. "Here have we just found out
that things aren't half so bad as they seemed, and now you're breaking
out again. What is the matter now?"

"I was thinking about the uniform, been lying here perhaps for months;
it's sure to be too damp to put on."

"Bah!" cried Aleck. "Dip it right into the big pool and make it salt.
It won't hurt you then."

"Right," shouted the middy. "Now, then, what next? I believe if we
keep on we shall find a fresh way out."

"Like enough. Let's try."

They tried, but tried in vain. The middy held the light, and Aleck
climbed up the wet face of the huge mass which blocked the way, and then
began to crawl on beneath the roof.

"How do you get on?"

"Splendid. It goes upward, and I could almost stand."

"How are you getting on?" said the middy, after listening to the
scrambling noise made by the climber.

"Middling. Just room to crawl now." Five minutes later the middy
shouted again:

"Look here; hadn't I better come up now?"

"Yes, if you like."

"Is there plenty of room?"

"No."

"Then what's the use of my coming?"

"Only to keep me company. Better still, come and give a pull at my
heels."

"Pull at your heels?"

"Yes, it's like a chimney laid on its side, and I'm quite stuck fast."

"Oh!" cried the middy; and then, "All right, I'm coming."

"No, no, don't!" came to him in smothered tones, as he began to climb;
"I've got room again. Coming back."

There was a good deal of shuffling and scraping, and then Aleck's feet
came into the light over the top of the block. The next minute he was
on his feet beside his companion, hot, panting, and with the front of
his clothes wet.

"There's a tiny stream comes trickling in there," he said, brushing
himself down softly; "but there isn't room for a rat to get any further
than I did. My word, it was tight! I felt as if the water had made me
swell out, and it didn't seem as if I was going to get back."

"Phew!" whistled the middy. "We should have been worse off then. I
say, Aleck, you'd have had to starve for a few days to get thin, and
then I could have pulled you out. Here, I say, though, old fellow, I'm
not going on the grump a