The Honorable Percival

r and sea air act as a narcotic on memories of the past and dreams of the future has never been proved, but it is

slumber. It was not until his valet touched his arm and respectfully submitted the information that the first gong had sounded for dinner that he w

, sir," said the valet, solicitously, "

y Perciv

ly. "Get me a sherry and bi

. With a haughty inclination of the head, he seated himself and, apparently unaware of the glances cast upon him, devoted himself to an absorbed perusal of the menu. H

as it focused attention at the far end of the table. Strange to say, he was not gratified. He conceived an immediate dislike for the large, good-looking officer, who seemed built especially to show off his smart uniform, and who brazenly ignored all conventions save those of navigation, His peculiaritie

ed the slave and asked him if his mind was set on becoming festooned in matrimony. He thought it was. So I up and bought the da

h of non-comprehension when the tide o

dry toast," he said over his s

warrant. He particularly disliked to hear a woman laugh aloud in public, and he was vexed with himself that he looked up every time her laugh rang out. To be sure, she was well worth looking at. Despite the clashing colors of her costume, he could not deny the charm of her blue

daughter, had evidently just met her, and the captain seemed to be the only one who had known

? All hands on deck at two bells in the morning watch, a twenty-mile sail on a bucking bronco, then back to the ranch, where we shipped a cargo of food that would sink a tramp, A gallon or so of soup in the hold, a saddle of v

as dawning on his face. Through the port-holes he could see the deep-purple sky rising to give

delicate, appealing blonde, whose opinions were always ten

able. "Isn't that like a woman? When I have ordered this calm weather especi

!" she proteste

would stop swinging out from the wall in that silly fashion. It was deuced uncanny to see them hang at an angle of twenty-five degrees, then slowly and mysteriously fall back

g blades smote his eyes with diabolical precision. The circular motio

tain. "I always order a dish or two the first

table to the stairway. In doing so he noted that it was a spiral stairway. Why in the name of heaven

moment he touched it. He grasped the baluster-rail, and stood wildly clinging, like a shipwrecked sailor to a mast. He was dazed, dumb, paralyzed with fear of the inevitable, and aware only of the burst of uncontrollable laughter that had followed his abrupt retreat.