contempt upon his countenance, but said nothing. He took the camp stools
which the children had left, and carried them away.

"I am sure I don't know what we are to do next," said Jane, mournfully,
after sitting for a moment in silence.

"Nor I," rejoined Rollo, "and so I am going to follow uncle George's
rules."

Mr. George had given Rollo this rule, as a sort of universal direction
for young persons when travelling alone:--

1. Do as you see other people do.

2. When you cannot find out in this or in any other way what to do, do
nothing.

In accordance with this advice, Rollo concluded to sit still upon the
settee, where the ship's officer had placed him, and do nothing. In the
mean time, however, he amused himself in watching the ships and steamers
which he saw sailing to and fro about the harbor, and in pointing out to
Jane all the remarkable objects which he observed from time to time
along the shores.

[Illustration: THE PILOT ON THE PADDLE BOX.]

Among other things which attracted his attention, he noticed and watched
the movements of a man who stood upon the top of one of the paddle boxes
on the side of the ship, where he walked to and fro very busily,
holding a speaking trumpet all the time in his hand. Every now and then
he would call out, in a loud voice, a certain word. Sometimes it was
_port_, sometimes it was _starboard_, and sometimes it was _steady_.
Rollo observed that it was always one or the other of those three words.
And what was still more curious, Rollo observed that, whenever the man
on the paddle box called out the word, the officer on the deck, who kept
walking about there all the time to and fro, would immediately repeat it
after him, in a loud but in a somewhat singular tone. While he was
wondering what this could mean, a gentleman, who seemed to be one of the
passengers, came and sat down on the settee close by his side. Rollo had
a great mind to ask him who the man on the paddle box was.

"Well, my boy," said the gentleman, "you are rather young to go to sea.
How do you like it?"

"Pretty well, sir," said Rollo.

"We are going out in fine style," said the gentleman. "We shall soon be
done with the pilot."

"The pilot?" said Rollo, inquiringly.

"Yes," said the gentleman. "There he is, on the paddle box."

"Is that the pilot?" asked Rollo. "I thought the pilot was the man who
steered."

"No," replied the gentleman, "he is the man who gives directions how to
steer. He doe