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Sam started

"Was it you who threw that bit of butter?"

"It was"

"I wish I'd known! You silly chuo You would have had to send it to the wash anyhow by this time But don't let us brood on the past Let us put our heads together and think hoe can get you out of this terrible situation"

"I don't want to get out of it I confidently expect to be the hit of the evening"

"The hit of the evening! You! Singing!"

"I' to do that imitation of Frank Tinney which I did at the Trinity Sotten that? You were at the piano taking the part of the conductor of the orchestra What a riot I ere! I say, Eustace, old h to come up now and take your old part? You could do it without a rehearsal You remember hoent'Hullo, Ernest!' 'Hullo, Frank!' Why not co?"

"The only piano I will ever sit at will be one firmly fixed on a floor that does not heave and wobble under me"

"Nonsense! The boat's as steady as a rock now The sea's like a estion, no!"

"Oh, well, then I shall have to get on as best I can with that fellow Morti all the afternoon and he seeht He has no pep, no vi to his stateroom I told him I would look in for a last rehearsal"

The door closed behind Saave himself up to melancholy meditation He was deeply disturbed by his cousin's sad story He knehat ittaken aloft in a balloon and dropped with a thud on the rocks

His reflections were broken by the abrupt opening of the door Marlowe rushed in Eustace peered anxiously out of his berth There was too istering of emotion, but he could tell from his manner that all was not well

"What's the e

"The bounder has quit!"