"Here, Freddie," said Mr. Toby, having filled the pipe, "sit down here." And he pushed Freddie gently down upon his accustomed hassock at Aunt Amanda's feet. Freddie shook his head, but Mr. Toby put the pipe into his mouth and lit a match. All the others sat in silence, watching Freddie intently. "Now, then!" said Toby. "Pull away!" And he touched the lighted match to the pipeful of black tobacco. Freddie gave a pull, and blew out a cloud of smoke. He did not choke this time. He gave another pull, and blew out another cloud. The white smoke lay above the heads of the company in a thick mass; it grew thicker, so that he could not see through it; it began to move, as if in a high wind. He drew on the pipe once more, and blew out another cloud of smoke. He knew what was coming, and in fact the same thing happened that had happened to him before. The white cloud churned about, with its barber-poles and jets of fire, coming down closer and closer upon him, and in a jiffy he was sitting in midair on his hassock, and then he felt himself falling, falling; and as he struck the bottom with a jar, he heard, very distinctly, a knock on the door; and he was sitting again on his hassock at Aunt Amanda's feet in the quiet room, with no sign of a cloud anywhere to be seen. "Come in!" he heard Mr. Toby cry. The door opened, and in walked Mr. Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., as cool as a cucumber. He took off his flat blue cap with the black ribbon, and made a bow to the company. "Piped me aft again, and good evening to you all!" said he, in his hoarse voice. "Lemuel Mizzen, A.B.! That's me! What'll it be? All ready for orders, skipper! It was just half past by the starboard watch, and the skippers their apples were quietly peeling, when I locked up the last of the lemons and Scotch, and lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling, to snatch forty winks, as I foolishly reckoned; but just as I thinks, 'Thirty-first, thirty-second,' there's a ring at the bell of the big front-door, and the mates come and yell that I'm wanted ashore; so I tucks in my cap the eight points of my nap, and just before stopping to turn down the lights, I runs to the dresser and puts it to rights, and then before giving a last look behind, I goes to the bed and takes off the spread, and lays out to air the three sheets in the wind! And here I be," concluded the Able Seaman, "all ready for orders." And he looked very hard at Freddie. "Well!" said Aunt Amanda, gasping. "I never in my life heard such a----" "I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Mizzen," said Toby. "It's about Correction Island, on the Spanish Main." "Ay, ay, sir!" said Mr. Mizzen. "Would you like to go there?" "Ah!" said everyone at once, except Mr. Hanlon, who nodded his head. "No trouble at all," said Mr. Mizzen. "Just step into The Sieve, and we'll be off. A sweet little bark is The Sieve, provided there's plenty of dippers; but we always go well provided. Is the whole party going?"