the acquaintance of Tom and his friends. In spite of the fact that
he said he had traveled very little, he seemed to know much about
hidden corners of the world, but always, as on an occasion when he
had accidentally let slip some remark that showed he had been in
far-off China or Asia, he would suddenly change the conversation
when it verged to travel.

"There's something queer about that minister," said Ned after one of
these occasions, "but I can't decide what it is."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Tom, who rather liked the man.

"No nonsense about it. Why should a minister take a trip like this
when he isn't sick, and when he isn't going to establish a mission
in South America? There's something queer about it, for, by his own
words he just took this voyage as a whim."

"Oh, you're too fussy," declared Tom; and for the time the subject
was dropped.

They ran into a storm when about ten days out, and for a while they
had a rough time of it, and then the weather cleared again.

It was one evening, after the formal dinner, when Tom and Ned were
strolling about on deck, before turning in, that, the quiet of the
ship was broken by what is always an alarming cry at sea.

"Fire! Fire!" shouted a man, pointing to a thin wisp of smoke
curling up from the deck amidships.