24 THE FATTED CALF. 



spanker-boom is the unsteadiest piece of stick 

 aboard any vessel, and the further out you go the 

 livelier it swings. 



" Well, I tucked the book under my left arm, 

 and crawled along that swinging boom, wa}' out 

 over the hurricane house and far beyond the 

 ship's stern. When I got to the end of it, I 

 leaned my breast against the topping-lift, with one 

 arm curled round it, and laced my legs together 

 under the boom. 



" Then I began a hunt for the Ten Command- 

 ments. I hadn't the faintest notion where to look 

 for them. First I thought I'd try Revelation. 

 Next it seemed more likely they'd turn up some- 

 where in Ruth. Again, I had an impulse that 

 led me toward Jonah. Jonah is a very popular 

 book among sailors. It's almost as good as the 

 story of Paul's shipwreck, where they put haw- 

 sers round and round the ship, just as if they 

 were strapping a trunk. 



" But at last I concluded to begin at the first 

 chapter of Genesis, and eat along to windward till 

 I raised the Ten Commandments. Happy thought ! 

 I found them in fifteen minutes. Then I set 

 about learning them. 



" The boom swung in the wind, the topping- 

 lift quivered from the strain on it, the white wake 



