[UP IN A WATER-SPOUT.]
ONE OF THE OLD SAILOR'S YARNS.
BY W. J. HENDERSON.
The Old Sailor sat on the end of the pier, but he was restless and ill at ease. He looked often at the southwestern sky, where heavy blue-black clouds were massing themselves in low and writhing shapes. He shook his head solemnly, rose to his feet, and walked nervously up and down.
"This are the werry identical kind o' day it were," he muttered, "an' ef we don't see some on 'em to-day, w'y, I'm a bloomin' marine, that's wot."
"See some of what?" inquired a voice behind him; and turning, he saw the two boys.
"Waal, waal, waal!" he exclaimed; "you two infants is a-gettin' 'most as weatherwise as tree-frogs."
This exclamation was not unnatural, for the two boys were clad in long sea-boots, oil-skins, and sou'westers.
"Ye look like a pair o' sunflowers," said the Old Sailor, with admiration in his tone, "an' I reckon ye don't worry much about the rain wot are a-comin'."