p. They remained here nearly
two hours, observing what was going on around them, and they saw a
great many things that interested them very much indeed.

The first thing that attracted their attention was the sound of a bell,
which struck four strokes very distinctly, and in a very peculiar
manner, near where the helmsman stood in steering the ship. This bell
has already been mentioned. It hung directly before the helmsman's
window, and it had a short rope attached to the clapper of it. The
helmsman, or _the man at the wheel_, as he is sometimes called, from the
fact that he steers the ship by means of a wheel, with handles all
around the periphery of it, had opened his window just after Rollo and
Jane had taken their seats, and had pulled this clapper so as to strike
four strokes upon the bell, the strokes being in pairs, thus:--

Ding--ding! Ding--ding!

In a minute afterward, Rollo and Jane heard the sound repeated in
precisely the same manner from another bell, that seemed to be far in
the forward part of the ship.

Ding--ding! Ding--ding!

"I wonder what that means?" said Rollo.

"I expect it means that it is four o'clock," said Jane.

"I should not think it could be so late as four o'clock," said Rollo.

"I have a great mind to go and ask the helmsman what it means," he
added, after a moment's pause.

"No," said Jane, "you must not go."

It is difficult to say precisely why Jane did not wish to have Rollo go
and ask the helmsman about the bell, but she had an instinctive feeling
that it was better not to do it. So Rollo sat still. His attention was
very soon turned away from the bell by Jane's calling out to him to see
some sailors go up the rigging. There were regular _shrouds_, as they
are called, that is, ladders formed of ropes, which led up on each side
of the masts part way to where the sailors seemed to wish to go. Above
the top of the shrouds there were only single ropes, and Rollo wondered
what the sailors would do when they came to these. They found no
difficulty, however, for when they reached the top of the shrouds they
continued to mount by the ropes with very little apparent effort. They
would take hold of two of the ropes that were a little distance apart
with their hands, and then, curling their legs round them in a peculiar
manner below, they would mount up very easily. They thus reached the
_yard_, as it is called, which is a long, round beam, extending along
the upper edge of the sai