The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

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like so many mutes at a funeral. I have never seen decorum pushed so
far; and as this was not expected, the quadrille was soon whistled off,
and the dancers departed.

"But the impulse to sing was strong, and triumphed over modesty and even
the inclemencies of the sea and sky. On one rough Saturday night, we got
together by the main deck-house, in a place sheltered from the wind and
rain. Some clinging to the ladder which led to the hurricane-deck and
the rest knitting arms or taking hands, we made a ring to support the
women in the violent lurching of the ship, and when we were thus
disposed, sang to our hearts' content.

"There was a single chess-board and a single pack of cards. Sometimes as
many as twenty of us would be playing dominoes for love. There were
feats of dexterity, puzzles for the intelligence and a regular daily
competition to guess the vessel's progress; at twelve o'clock when the
result was published in the wheel house, came to be a moment of