"And my twiddling my thumbs," put in Bruce.

"And this dagger pin in my scarf," said Frank.

"It's a wonder he didn't prophecy shipwreck, or something of that sort,"
groaned Rattleton, who had settled at full length in his berth. "If this
rolling motion keeps up, I shall get so I won't care if we are wrecked."

"He must be a dandy in a good swift game of poker!" laughed Frank. "I
shouldn't think he'd be able to make up his mind how to discard. He'd be
a drawback to the game, or I'm much mistaken."

"It strikes me that he'd be easy fruit," said Rattleton.

"He looks like a 'sucker' himself, but sometimes it is impossible to
tell about a man till after you see him play. Anyhow, these two visits
were something to break the monotony of the voyage. It promised to be
pretty lively at the start, but it has settled down to be rather quiet."

Bloodgood and Slush proved good food for conversation, but the boys
tired of that after a while.

Diamond went out by himself, and Frank went to Tutor Maybe's room, where
he spent the time till the gong sounded for supper.

"Come, Harry," said Frank, appearing in the stateroom, "aren't you ready
for supper?"

Rattleton gave a groan.