misfortune to drop your Excellency and her Majesty overboard. I never knew how it happened, sir, but happen it did, and but for her Majesty's kind assistance it might have been the worse for us. Eh, Sir Walter?" The knight shook his head menacingly at Charon. Hitherto he had managed to keep it a secret that the Queen had rescued him from drowning upon that occasion by swimming ashore herself first and throwing Sir Walter her ruff as soon as she landed, which he had used as a life-preserver. "'Sh!" he said, _sotto voce_. "Don't say anything about that, my man." "Very well, Sir Walter, I won't," said the boatman; but he made a mental note of the knight's agitation, and perceived a means by which that illustrious courtier could be made useful to him in his scheming for social advancement. "I understood you had something to say to me," said Charon, after he had greeted the others. "We have," said Sir Walter. "We want you to assume command of this boat." The old fellow's eyes lighted up with pleasure. "You want a captain, eh?" he said. "No," said Confucius, tapping the table with a diamond-studded chop-stick. "No. We want a--er--what the deuce is it they call the functionary, Cassius?" "Senator, I think," said Cassius. Demosthenes gave a loud laugh. "Your mind is still running on Senatorships, my dear Cassius. That is quite evident," he said. "This is not one of them, however. The title we wish Charon to assume is neither Captain nor Senator; it is Janitor." "What's that?" asked Charon, a little disappointed. "What does a Janitor have to do?" "He has to look after things in the house," explained Sir Walter. "He's a sort of proprietor by proxy. We want you to take charge of the house, and see to it that the boat is kept shipshape." "Where is the house?" queried the astonished boatman. "This is it," said Sir Walter. "This is the house, and the boat too. In fact, it is a house-boat." "Then it isn't a new-fangled scheme to drive me out of business?" said