2 54 TROPIC DAYS 



company to get up sail or hoist the dingh}^ on board, 

 he whistles as well as smiles, and then the black boys 

 laugh, and Hfe on the trim ship is more buoyant than 

 ever. He goes down into the doll's-house galley back- 

 wards, smiling. Now, it is no smiling matter to be 

 jambed up against a hot stove on a hot day when the 

 seas run high and the yacht digs her crescent nose into 

 the blue and washes her own decks \\ath Neptune's 

 suds. But "Jimmy" wall bob up again in due season 

 with a plate of hot cakes or, perhaps, even cool cakes — 

 and the smile. He has been smiUng to the oven, 

 which is inclined to g3aTinastics, only it is restrained 

 by effectual bolts. "Jimmy" is a gymnast, and his 

 free great-toes enable him to cook under circumstances 

 and conditions which others not so equipped would 

 profane. 



Smiles are his antidote for all injurious mental fer- 

 ments, and how many diseases of the mind are there which 

 are not to be alleviated by such apt physic ? 



It has been said that "Jimmy" is a diplomat. He 

 certainly is. The Melbidir had run within hailing 

 distance of another yacht, the owner and commander 

 of which is an old friend of the Protector and "Jimmy." 

 When we did hail, a silvery head and a sunburnt pair 

 of shoulders popped up from below, and with a compre- 

 hensive wave of sunburnt arms — the red type — vanished. 

 Soon the same head and the same shoulders, decently 

 but loosely clad in blue and followed by the rest of the 

 hearty body, emerged, and in a few minutes friends were 

 gripping each other's hands and talking furiously about 

 a particular island, pilots, pearls, and Torres Straits. 

 "Jimmy" passed, and the florid man in blue said, 

 nudging his friend, "I seem to know that boy." 



"Of course you do," replied the Protector; "that's 

 'Jimmy' from T. I." 



