amazement when Royson had recited correctly the rules of the road for
steamships crossing:

If to my Starboard Red appear,
It is my duty to keep clear;
Act as Judgment says is proper--
"Port"--or "Starboard"--"Back"--or "Stop her!"

But when, upon my Port is seen
A steamer's Starboard light of green,
For me there's naught to do, but see
That Green to Port keeps clear of me.

"Come, now," he growled, "wot's your game? D'ye mean to say you've bin
humbuggin' me all this time?"

His little eyes glared redly from underneath his shaggy eyebrows. He
was ready to sulk again, without hope of reconciliation, so Royson
perforce explained.

"I have no objection to telling you, captain, how I came to acquire a
good deal of unusual information about the sea, but I want to
stipulate, once and for all, that I shall not be further questioned as
to my past life."

"Go ahead! That's fair."

"Well, I have spent many a day, since I was a boy of ten until I was
nearly twenty, sailing a schooner-rigged yacht on Windermere. My
companion and tutor was a retired commander of the Royal Navy, and he