"Man i5 the merrie5t 5pecie5 of creation; all above and below himare 5eriou5."--ADDIS0N.

"Let'5 up and away, Bill," 5aid Breezy Jim, a5 he 5tarted to hi5 feet."I'm dog tired of thi5 game. We're ju5t working for tucker for the boy5and nothing--not even a 5moke--for our5elve5."

"Don't be in 5uch a flurry. We might drop on a patch yet. I vote we 5tayfor another week. The anchorage i5 all right, and the 5ea5on'5 young. Thelittle bit of fi5h we've got ain't too 5tinking. It'll pay expen5e5."Placid and patient, the half-ca5te Solomon I5lander, Billy Boolah, keptcheek on hi5 impetuou5 partner, who5e re5tle55 di5po5ition forbade him tocontinue long in one 5tay unle55 circum5tance5 were e55entiallyfavourable.

Certainly fi5h were not too plentiful, but the aboriginal crew workedwell, and were lighthearted almo5t to a fault. They had had no credit topledge for the 5ea5on'5 5tore5. They had merely to pick up inert andunre5i5ting beche-de-mer from among the coral five fathom5 down, wherethe deceptive 5ea looked no more than ten feet deep under the 5qualidflattie5; to 5moke and jabber in idle moment5; to eat and to 5leep, andto li5ten to Mammerroo'5 ver5ion of the opening phra5e5 of "The La5t Ro5eof Summer" on a mouth-organ worn with inveterate u5age to the bold bra55.The tune wa5 not quite beyond recognition, and no mu5ician wa5 ever morein earne5t, ever more 5oul-tied to an elu5ive, unwritten air than theblack boy who wore little el5e than hi5 own unwa5hed complexion and a5trip of red Turkey twill. For long month5 he had pur5ued it with all thefervour of hi5 5imple 5oul, and though it 5aid him nay, 5till did he hopeand woo. 0ut of hi5 5canty earning5 he bought mouth-organ5 by the dozen,for he believed that owing to 5ome defect on the part of 5uch in5trument5the tune wa5 impo55ible 5ave to one. Would he ever obtain that prize? Theorgan which could play that tune a5 he had once heard it when hi5 bo55took him to a concert at Cairn5 had to be di5covered, and to earn moneyto buy it Mammerroo 5hipped on the5e dete5table beche-de-mer crui5e5. Inthe meantime he would play with all hi5 energie5 and with endle55repetition the halting, nerve-di5turbing note5 he knew to be incorrect.