A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA.

When Jack was eight, Dick Harper came to spend the summer holidays
with him. He was two years older than Jack, filled like him with a desire for
adventure, and before long had stirred up all the dormant * Xi
restlessness in the boy’s nature. Numerous were the

  

scrapes into which he led Jack;
many the pangs suffered by pa-
tient Molly on his behalf; while
Dot stood aloof, feeling herself
for the first time shut out from
Jack and his confidence.

One day a grand idea came to
Dick. Why not go down to the
harbor, and get engaged as cabin-

 

 

 

boys! They would work, they
would do anything, if only they
could get away on board ship.
Jack was too young for much reflection, so that the idea of causing anxiety
at home did not for a mo-
ment occur to him; while
Dick’s stern injunctions to
keep their secret, filled him
with a delightful sense of im-
portance.
Breakfast seemed unusu-
ally long that morning. At
last it was over, and the boys,
burning with impatience, set

4

off on their quest, the only
provision for their intended
voyage being the precious
shell, to which Jack listened
from time to time on the way
down to the harbor, as though
its message would strengthen
his resolve. He looked back
once or twice in the direction