Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/28

 most time you turned in? Or are you considering taking the graveyard watch to-night?"

"Oh, it isn't really late yet," laughed the boy. "It's such a peachy night that I hate to go below. So does Pickles, don't you, you old rascal?"

Apparently he did, (or he wagged a stiff tail enthusiastically and burrowed his nose further into the crook of the boy's arm.

"Well, don't make it too late," advised his father, turning away. "If I find you on deck at seven bells I'll put you in the lazaret on hard tack and water for the rest of the voyage." With which dire threat Captain Troy strode off toward the stern.

Left to themselves, boy and dog sat a few minutes longer, and then, finding that the breeze was seeking them out, arose. Nelson yawned deeply and Pickles wagged his tail, as they went sleepily aft to the companion. As Nelson's head dropped below the deck level he caught an uncertain glimpse of his father's form by the helmsman and a glowing speck that showed that Leo's pipe was drawing well. Nelson shared his father's cabin, and twenty minutes later he was sound asleep there, while Pickles, half under the bunk and half out, twitched his legs and made little sounds, dreaming, perhaps, that he was doing battle royal 7