No, no, they said; they wanted to sing sailing; they did not wish to go ashore, or near the shore. Well, the amiable Doctor scarce knew how to please them, for he could not steer the boat and play the banjo at the same time; and he was not sure about entrusting the safety of so precious a cargo to the uncertain seamanship of the editor. However, they were now a long way from Fort George; they might as well take a run back in that direction; and so—the boat having been let away from the wind and put on a fair course for the distant landing-stage—Mr. Huysen was called down from the bow and directed as to how he should steer; and then the Doctor went forward and got out the banjo. Now this ’Dancing in the Barn’ (the words are idiotic enough) has a very catching air; and no sooner had the Doctor—who was standing up on the bit of a deck forward, where Jack Huysen had been—begun the tinkling prelude than the girls showed little movements of hands and feet, as if they were performing an imaginary ’cake-walk.’ _’Oh, we’ll meet at the ball in the evening,_ _Kase I love to pass the time away’_ —they were all singing at it now; they did not wait for any chorus; and Miss Carry had caught Miss Em’s hand, and was holding it on high, and keeping time to the music, as if she were in reality leading her down the barn. As we move so grace-ful-ly We’re as hap-py as can be Den swing you partners all to- [Illustration: Music fragment] ge-ther, Kase now’s the time for you to larn, Ban-jos ring-ing, Nig-gers sing-ing, And danc-ing in the barn. [Illustration: music fragment] Then came in the rippling dance—played as a solo on the banjo; and so catching was it that the two girls stood up, and made believe to dance a little. You see, the boat was running free before the wind, and there was scarcely any appreciable motion, though she was going at a good speed, for her mainsail was enormously large and the breeze was brisk. ’I say, Huysen,’ the Doctor called, while he was playing the dance, ’look what you’re about. Never mind the singing. Keep her bow straight for the landing-stage.’ Then the next verse began— _’Den we’s off to work in de morning,_ _Singing as we go out to de field,’_ and they all went at it with a will. And then the chorus; and then the light rippling dance— [Illustration: music fragment]