HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 13 



reposing on and being surrounded by explosives enough 

 to delight the heart of a dynamitard. The mess cabin 

 was bulk-headed on either side into berths, which, by 

 means of sliding doors, could, if total darkness and certain 

 suffocation were not objected to, be made into cabins also. 

 Indeed, Thompson, with a merry twinkle in his eye, 

 designated them as such, with more polite pretension than 

 truthful regard for reality. The skipper, under the excuse 

 of not being able to see the chronometer properly, got a 

 dead light inserted in the deck ; but, as it was placed just 

 over his head and persistently leaked, he had to go to bed 

 in his oilskins, a fact which must have detracted somewhat 

 from its supposed convenience, and the stray sunbeams 

 which found their way through the dim glass were more 

 depressing than cheerful. 



