the four children had a great game of hide and seek all over the
forward deck.

Finally Daddy Bunker appeared from aft to make sure that none of the
quartette was lost. He took Laddie and Vi below with him after a time
and the two older children were left alone. They found seats in the lee
of what the ship's men called "the house" and sat down to rest and talk.
But every now and then one of them jumped up to look astern to see if
the land had disappeared, as Daddy Bunker said it would.

"It's a long time going," said Rose.

"Well, there is a lot of it to go. Don't you remember," said Russ, "how
big the North American continent is in the geography?"

"Oh! Is that it?" cried Rose.

"Yes. We've got to lose the whole top part of North America," her
confident brother declared.

There was some sort of officer (he had brass buttons and wore a cap, so
Russ and Rose knew he must be an officer) pacing the deck, back and
forth, not far from their chairs. Every time he came near he threw a
pleasant word to the brother and sister. Russ and Rose began to ask him
questions and sometimes trotted beside him as he paced his lookout
watch. Violet would have delighted in this man, for he seemed to know
almost everything about ships and the sea and was perfectly willing to
answer questions.

Rose asked him if, after they had lost the land, they would find the