On calm mornings, with the _Crescent Moon_ hove to, all hands would go swimming. Nikobo loved to swim and to roll over and over like a mighty porpoise, even though the salt water made her eyes sting. Since Tandy had given Samuel the drawings of the Leopard Men, the ship's Captain could not do enough for his young cabin boy, and among other things had made a rope harness for Nikobo so Tandy could hang on when he perched upon her slippery back. At first he had been satisfied to ride Nikobo, but after several days he was splashing recklessly with the others and Samuel had taught him all the swimming strokes he knew and had Tandy diving over and under the hippopotamus in a way to make Roger scream with envy and approval. Swimming was the only part of a sea voyage the Read Bird could not really enjoy, but he was always on hand to give advice, roosting on Nikobo's head so long as she stayed above water and taking hurriedly to his wings when she mischievously tried to dunk him. The hippopotamus made a really splendid raft when they tired of swimming, and Ato, who did not care for water sports so much as Samuel or Tandy, fished for hours from her back, his feet hooked through the ropes of her harness to keep him from falling into the sea. The only thing Tandy regretted was Nikobo's great size and that she could not come aboard ship and join them in the cabin. On cool evenings he and Ato and the Captain (Roger preferring to take first watch) would sit cozily round the fire listening to the stories Samuel told them of the days when he had been a pirate and roamed up and down the Nonestic, capturing the ships and treasure of all the powerful island monarchs. Tandy never tired of these thrilling sea battles nor of watching Samuel Salt's pet fire lizard. Sally was now so tame she would allow any one of them to pick her up. They had to be careful not to hold her against their clothing, however, for though Sally did not burn the fingers, she set fire to whatever she touched. Indeed, whenever they wanted a fire in the grate, they had only to place the Salamander on the kindlings beneath the logs and a cheery flame would blaze up instantly. It was in the fireplace Sally took most of her exercise, racing and scittering over the glowing logs or rolling happily in the red hot embers. But most of her time she spent curled up in Samuel Salt's pipe, and it was always a surprise to Tandy to see her comical head pop up over the edge of the bowl or hear her chirping and purring to herself from her cozy bed of tobacco leaves.