"I shall keep as close to you as I can, sir," said the sailor. "You won't want any telling which way to go, for there is only one way for you to get along, as you'll soon find out." I started, and soon felt that I must be past where the two men had found it so tight a fit, though I had had no difficulty in getting along whatever, and gaining courage from the excitement, I crawled forward over the tops of rough packing-cases and between others, finding the passage uneven, and with a different level every minute. Now there would be plenty of room; but a foot or two farther I had to crawl over a case that came so close to a beam arching over from side to side of the ship that I began wondering how my companion had passed in, and as soon as I was through and into the wider space beyond, I stopped with my head turned back to speak. "You can't get through there, can you?" I asked. "Well, it is pretty tight, sir, but I did it afore, and I've got to do it again." I listened to his efforts, and could make out that he was getting through inch by inch, and he kept on commenting upon his progress the while. "Good job as one's bones give a bit, sir," he was saying, when the knocking ahead came clearly, and seemed not so very far away. "Give 'em an answer, sir; not too loud. Do it with your knuckles on something." I was upon a case as he spoke, and I answered at once; but to my annoyance this only drew forth fresh knockings in various ways--two knocks together, then two more very quickly--a regular rat-rat--and then all kinds of variations, to which I replied as well as I could, and then left off in a pet. "Who's going to keep on doing that?" I cried angrily. "They must wait." "Yes," growled Barney; "I'd go on, sir. That arn't doing nobody no good." The consequence was that I went forward slowly, with an accompaniment of taps, which kept irritating me in that hot, stifling passage--no, it is not fair to call such a place a passage, seeing that it was merely an opening formed by the settling down of the packages, or their opening out from the rolling of the ship in the storm. I was passing along one of these latter portions with great care when a cold chill ran through me, for the thought came--suppose the ship heels over now, I shall be nipped in here and crushed to death. But the ship did not heel over; though I did not feel comfortable till I was out of the opening, and flat once more on the top of a huge crate, between whose openings, the sharp ends of the straw used in packing it projected and scratched my face. Here I paused to listen to Barney panting and grunting as he struggled along. "Mustn't make quite so much noise, sir," he whispered; "or some 'un uppards 'll be hearing of us."