Bessie did not understand, and said so; and the captain, taking her up in his arms, tried to explain the use and working of the dials to the little girls; but it was rather a difficult matter for them to take in, and I do not know that he made it very clear to them.
“But I want to know about that man,” said Maggie: “does he have to walk here and look at these things all the time?”
“All the time,” said Captain Brooks.
“Doesn’t he eat and sleep?” asked Belle.
“Oh! to be sure,” said the captain. “I said he was here all the time; but I should have said a man was here all the time; for there is another who takes his turn while this one rests.”
“But are you not tired sometimes?” Bessie asked of the man, who just then came to the end of the platform where she was.
He nodded assent as he turned, but made no answer in words, did not even smile, being a grum-looking man, and seeming altogether intent on his dials.
“He’s not very polite just to nod at you and not speak,” said Lily.
“It is against the rule of the ship for him to talk while he is on duty, and he always keeps the rule,” said the captain.