14 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



looking enviously down at the floating creatures 

 which are constantly passing. And now I had de- 

 vised this pulpit which answered every requirement. 

 It is a bit of iron grating, surrounded by a waist- 

 high iron rail and fastened astride the bow of the 

 Arcturus. It can be raised or lowered to any de- 

 sired position, and this morning the weather was 

 so promising that the supporting cables were let 

 out to their fullest extent, so that the grating was 

 now and then hidden by a rush of water as the 

 ship dipped forward into a smooth billow. 



The first descent of the swaying pilot-ladder was 

 an uneasy experience, but one was not at all likely 

 to fall when the possibility of falling was so evi- 

 dent, — provided, of course, that one had a "head for 

 height." For a while I think that the captain suf- 

 fered more anxiety than anyone, as from his vantage 

 point on the bridge he witnessed the disappearance 

 of land-lubbers over the very point of the bow. 

 Once in the pulpit, the sensation was rather like 

 being in Mahomet's coffin, suspended between sky 

 and sea, with nothing under foot but a few strips 

 of widely-spaced metal, hanging under the cliff- 

 like bow of the forging vessel that slid down the 

 watery slopes in a ceaseless attempt to overtake and 

 crush me and my scant support. There was no 

 sound but that of the rushing water cleaved and 

 flung aside by the sharp prow. The sun's rays 

 tapered into a luminous cone that plumbed infi- 

 nite blue depths just ahead, a hypnotizing focal 

 point for dazzled eyes. From undulating blue 

 meadows a school of flyingfish skittered like grass- 



