of dancing away over the blue water is poetic and therefore wonderful."

"I'm glad you explained it to me, and I dare say the more the ship
dances, the more wonderful it will be. And so let's get these things
straightened out before the dancing grows mad and hilarious."

"All right," said Patty good-naturedly; and she went to work with a
will, stowing away things and tacking up things, until everything was
snugly in place.

Mrs. Farrington's maid accompanied the party, but both Elise and Patty,
being energetic young Americans, had small use for her services. She was
a help, though, in the matter of back buttons and hair ribbons, and she
came now rapping at the stateroom door with a message from Mrs.
Farrington that the girls were to dress for dinner. At the same moment
the pretty bugle-call rang out that marked the half hour before dinner-
time.

"Isn't it fun," cried Patty, "to have the dressing-bell a trumpet?
Except at my own party the other night I've never been bugled to my
meals. What shall we wear, Elise?"

"Not our prettiest dresses. We must save those for the concert, or
whatever gaieties they may have. Put on that blue checked silk of yours,
Patty; it's the sweetest thing, and just right for dinner, and I'll wear
my light green one."

With slight assistance from Lisette, the French maid, they were soon
ready. Patty envied Lisette her fluency in the French tongue, for though
all the officers on board and most of the passengers spoke English,