"So? I plays a joke on him, alretty yet. Vatch."
And the German was as good as his word. The next afternoon Bob suddenly felt himself being pitched over the rail toward the sea. He yelled and made a grab for the mizzen shroud near which he was standing, but he suddenly found himself brought up with a round turn, for the German had caught the boy's feet in a bight of cable, so that he would not go overboard.
"So!" he exclaimed. "You sews up my sleeves, eh? I t'inks you don't do so no more! Eh?"
"More tricks!" exclaimed the captain, when matters had been explained to him, "I wonder if he'll ever be cured?"
But Bob's cure was nearer at hand than either he or the captain expected.
The fine weather continued for a week, during which time the Eagle made good progress. Then came several days of dead calm, when they were near the Tropic of Capricorn, and they suffered much from the heat of the sun.
"I don't like this," remarked Captain Spark one day, as he looked up at the brassy sky.
"Why not?" asked Bob, with the familiarity of a relative.
"I think this means a storm, and we're in a poor location for a bad blow. I don't like it."
As the day wore on it became evident that the captain's prophecy was about to be verified. The wind sprang up suddenly, almost before sail could be shortened, and the Eagle heeled over until if seemed as if she would not right. That was the beginning of a storm that was worse than the other.