close by, and knowing his
way, he went nervously into his father's cabin, where a lamp hung
beneath the sky-light, but it was turned down very low. The place was
empty, and all seemed very dark and lonely, but he could hear the crew
stumping about and making strange noises as if busy preparing to start.
Then he started, for the steam whistle gave out a dismal shriek, and
then there was a low hissing and humming noise, announcing that there
was too heavy a pressure of steam.

The boy, after walking about the cabin a few times, sat down on one of
the lockers, and the humming, buzzing noise of the escaping steam began
to have a strange effect upon him. First he began to nod, and then he
dropped off fast asleep, but started up again directly and began to
walk about to try and keep awake.

But he was utterly worn out with the excitement he had gone through;
the gloomy cabin was hot and close, and in spite of trying hard to keep
awake, his eyelids grew more and more heavy, and at last, almost
without knowing what he did, he crept to his father's berth, drew the
curtain back, and threw himself down; the curtain dropped back across
it, and the next minute he was sleeping soundly, with the dull,
snorting, humming buzz of the escaping steam going on and mingling with
his dreams.

After a time he had a faint consciousness of hearing voices in the
cabin, where the lamp had been turned up. One of the voices seemed to
be that of his father, and a faint quiver ran through him, while he
felt as if he were in among the fir-trees, where the thick rope had
been fixed up to two of the stems, and he was gently swinging to and
fro. But it was not nice, for the movement made him feel giddy and
strange. And then it was that Bob fancied he tried to stop the swing
and sit still, but somehow it would not stop, and the feeling of
giddiness increased.

It did not wake him up, though, and he slept on, knowing nothing about
the Captain coming on board, with his latest despatches. Then the cable
was unfastened from the buoy, the swift vessel began to glide along
with the tide, which was running fast, and the Captain went up on the
bridge, along with his chief officer. Every now and then a sharp sound
like the striking of a clock was heard, these sounds being the striking
of the little gong in the engine-room, where the engineer and his
assistants were tending the bright machine, which sent the screw
propeller whirling round, and making the water