"However devilish their action had been, I could not let them drown like rats in a trap, so I started forward to their release, and had just laid my hand on the bolt when the deck blew up, owing to the confined air, with a report like that of a cannon, and I was hurled into the sea. "I quickly gained the surface, but was immediately drawn down again in the suction of the sinking vessel, and when at last I once more found myself on top of the water I was so far spent, strong swimmer though I was, that I would have sunk helplessly, but Nero caught my collar and held my head up until I recovered my breath and strength. "Shortly after this some floating object bumped up against us, which to my joy I discovered to be the large wooden chicken-coop that had rested on the deck. I climbed on top of it, and pulled Nero up beside me, and we drifted about on it until late that afternoon, when we were picked up by a Chinese junk, and carried into port. "And now, my boy," said Grandfather Sterling, in conclusion, "you have the story of the time that I went to sea with a Chinese crew, and had Nero for my first mate." THORNTON'S USELESS STUDY. BY W. J. HENDERSON. "I wish to gracious goodness that Thornton J. Seabury would make better use of his time!" That was the earnest exclamation of Mrs. Seabury, mother of Thornton; and it was her earnest conviction that her son was going to turn out to be an idle, unpractical, shiftless young man. "It's not that he's lazy," said Mrs. Seabury, when, in the distress of her heart, she went to consult the minister about her boy. "No, he's not exactly what you might call lazy; but he works on useless things. He spends hours and hours in studying things that may be very interesting and very fine to know; but what good will they ever do him? He's got to make his way in the world, and I'd like to know who's going to pay him for learning the names of the stars, and orbits, and diurnal motions, and such things as he talks about! He ought to be giving his attention to something that will help him to earn an honest living." "But, my dear Mrs. Seabury," said the Rev. Thomas Tatter, who was a man of education, "there is hardly any study that cannot be turned to account in earning a living; though I must admit that I can't help admiring your son for loving a study for its own sake." "Well, I'd admire him too," said Mrs. Seabury, "if he loved some such study as civil engineering or architecture." "Yes, I dare say that these would promise a more brilliant future for him: but we must admit the fact that his gifts are for astronomy, and you know it is almost impossible to overcome the impulses of a boy's natural gifts. Even as an astronomer a man may earn a living." "Well, I suppose there's no help for it," sighed Mrs. Seabury.