care), telling him to keep his mind easy;
returned messages mentioning that his mind was
easy, and that the children were pretty quiet,
but never approached the deck in his own
person. Mr. Jolly now and then showed
himself—said "All right,—no news," took a little
light refreshment, and disappeared again, as
cheerful as ever. The fair breeze still held;
the captain's temper remained unruffled; the
man at the helm eased the vessel, from time to
time, with the most anxious consideration. Ten
o'clock came: the moon rose and shone
superbly; the nightly grog made its appearance
on the quarter-deck; the captain gave the
passengers the benefit of his company; and still
nothing happened. Twenty minutes more of
suspense slowly succeeded each other—and then,
at last, Mr. Jolly was seen suddenly to ascend
the cabin stairs.

To the amazement of the little group on the
quarter-deck, the doctor held Mrs. Drabble
the stewardess fast by the arm, and, without
taking the slightest notice of the captain or the
passengers, placed her on the nearest seat he
could find. As he did this, his face became
visible in the moonlight, and displayed to the
startled spectators an expression of blank
consternation.

"Compose yourself, Mrs. Drabble," said the
doctor, in tones of unmistakable alarm. "Keep
quiet, and let the air blow over you. Collect
yourself, ma'am—for Heaven's sake, collect
yourself!"

Mrs. Drabble made no answer. She beat her
hands vacantly on her knees, and stared straight
before her, like a woman panic-stricken.

"What's wrong?" asked the captain, setting
down his glass of grog in dismay. "Anything
amiss with those two unfortunate women?"

"Nothing," said the doctor. "Both doing
admirably well."

"Anything queer with their babies?"
continued the captain. "Are there more than you
bargained for, Jolly? Twins, for instance?"

"No! no!" replied Mr. Jolly, impatiently.
"A baby apiece—both boys—both in first-rate
condition. Judge for yourselves," added the
doctor, as the two new cabin-passengers tried
their lungs, below, for the first time, and found
that they answered their purpose in the most
satisfactory manner.

"What the devil's amiss then with you and
Mrs. Drabble?" persisted the captain, beginning
to lose his temper again.

"Mrs. Drabble and I are two innocent people,
and we have got into the most dreadful scrape
that ever you heard of!" was Mr. Jolly's
startling answer.

The captain, followed by Mr. Purling and Mr.
Sims, approached the doctor with looks of horror.
Even the man at the wheel stretched himself
over it as far as he could to hear what was
coming next. The only uninterested person
present was Mr. Smallchild. His time had come
round for going to sleep again, and he was
snoring peacefully, with his biscuit and bacon
close beside him,

"Let's hear the worst of it at once, Jolly,"
said the captain, a little impatiently.

The doctor paid no heed to this request. His
whole attention was absorbed by Mrs. Drabble.
"Are you better now, ma'am?" he asked,
anxiously.

"No better in my mind," answered Mrs.
Drabble, beginning to beat her knees again.
"Worse, if anything."

"Listen to me," said Mr. Jolly, coaxingly.
"I'll put the whole case over again to you, in a
few plain questions. You'll find it all come
back to your memory, if you only follow me
attentively, and if you take time to think and
collect yourself before you attempt to answer."

Mrs. Drabble bowed her head in speechless
submission—and listened. Everybody else on
the quarter-deck listened, except the impenetrable
Mr. Smallchild.

"Now, ma'am!" said the doctor. "Our
troubles began in Mrs. Heavyside's cabin,
which is situated on the starboard side of the ship?"

"They did, sir," replied Mrs. Drabble.

"Good! We went backwards and forwards,
an infinite number of times, between Mrs.
Heavysides (starboard) and Mrs. Smallchild
(larboard)—but we found that Mrs. Heavysides,
having got the start, kept it—and when I called
out, 'Mrs. Drabble! here's a chopping boy for
you: come and take him!'—I called out
starboard, didn't I?"

"Starboard, sir—I'll take my oath of it," said
Mrs. Drabble.

"Good, again! 'Here is a chopping boy,'
I said. 'Take him, ma'am, and make him
comfortable in the cradle.' And you took him, and
made him comfortable in the cradle, accordingly?
Now, where was the cradle?"

"In the main cabin, sir," replied Mrs.
Drabble.

"Just so! In the main cabin, because we
hadn't got room for it in either of the sleeping-
cabins. You put the starboard baby (otherwise
Heavysides) in the clothes-basket cradle in the
main cabin. Good, once more. How was the
cradle placed?"

"Crosswise to the ship, sir," said Mrs. Drabble.

"Crosswise to the ship? That is to say,
with one side longwise towards the stern of the
vessel, and one side longwise towards the bows.
Bear that in mind—and now follow me a little
farther. No! no! don't say you can't, and
your head's in a whirl. My next question will
steady it. Carry your mind on half an hour,
Mrs. Drabble. At the end of half an hour, you
heard my voice again; and my voice called out
—'Mrs. Drabble! here's another chopping boy
for you: come and take him!'—and you came
and took him larboard, didn't you?"

"Larboard, sir, I don't deny it," answered Mrs.
Drabble.

"Better and better! ' Here is another
chopping boy,' I said. ' Take him, ma'am, and make
him comfortable in the cradle, along with
number one.' And you took the larboard baby
(otherwise Smallchild), and made him