often noticed that big men are small eaters. I wonder why it is?"

"Sometimes it is because they can't get it, I expect," said the indignant
captain.

Mr. Tredgold said that no doubt that was the case sometimes, and was only
recalled to the true position of affairs by the hungry captain marching
up to the beef and carving for himself.

"I'm sorry," he said, with a laugh. "I was thinking of something else.
I wonder whether you would let me use the crow's-nest for a day or two?
There's a place we have got on our hands, a mile or two out, and I want
to keep my eye on it."

The captain, his good humour quite restored, preserved his gravity with
an effort. "I don't see that she could object to that," he said, slowly.
"It's a matter of business, as you might say."

"Of course, I could go straight round to the back without troubling you,"
resumed Mr. Tredgold. "It's so awkward not to be able to see you when I
want to."

Captain Bowers ventured a sympathetic wink. "It's awkward not to be able
to see anybody when you want to," he said, softly.

Two days later Miss Drewitt, peeping cautiously from her bedroom window,
saw Mr. Tredgold perched up in the crow's-nest with the telescope. It
was a cold, frosty day in January, and she smiled agreeably as she
hurried downstairs to the fire and tried to imagine the temperature up
aloft.