know the sayin' about 'out of the frying-pan into the fire'? Well,
in some parts I've travelled they had better get out of the fryin'-
pan, no matter where they fetch up."

We went away laughing, and I said: "Don't you be troubled, Mousie;
we won't go to the frying-pan altogether to find roses for your
cheeks. We'll paint them red with strawberries and raspberries, the
color put on from the inside."

As time passed, the storm increased, and the air became so thick
with driving snow that the boat's speed was slackened. Occasionally
we "slowed up" for some moments. The passengers shook their heads
and remarked, dolefully, "There's no telling when we'll arrive."

I made up my mind that it would be good economy for us all to have a
hearty hot supper, as Bobsey had suggested; and when, at last, the
gong resounded through the boat, we trooped down with the others to
the lower cabin, where there were several long tables, with colored
waiters in attendance. We had not been in these lower regions
before, and the eyes of the children soon wandered from their plates
to the berths, or sleeping-bunks, which lined the sides of the
cabin.

"Yes," I replied, in answer to their questions; "it is a big supper-
room now, but by and by it will be a big bedroom, and people will be
tucked away in these berths, just as if they were laid on shelves,
one over the other."

The abundant and delicious supper, in which steaks, not from cow-
beef, were the chief feature, gave each one of us solid comfort and