[Illustration: "THEY SAILED ON, IN THE MOONLIGHT"

(See page 297)]

 The Sandman:

 His Sea Stories

 By William J. Hopkins

 Author of "The Sandman: His Farm Stories, " "The Sandman: More Farm Stories, " "The Sandman: His Ship Stories, " etc. 

 With Forty Illustrations by Diantha W. Horne

 This special edition is published by arrangement with the publisher of the regular edition, The Page Company. 

 CADMUS BOOKS E. M. HALE AND COMPANY

 CHICAGO

 _Copyright, 1908_

 BY THE PAGE COMPANY

 _All rights reserved_

 Made in U. S. A. 

CONTENTS

 PAGE

 THE SEPTEMBER-GALE STORY 1

 THE FIRE STORY 31

 THE PORPOISE STORY 44

 THE SEAWEED STORY 57

 THE FLYING-FISH STORY 74

 THE LOG-BOOK STORY 85

 THE SHARK STORY 102

 THE CHRISTMAS STORY 120

 THE SOUNDING STORY 139

 THE TEAK-WOOD STORY 153

 THE STOWAWAY STORY 171

 THE ALBATROSS STORY 185

 THE DERELICT STORY 194

 THE LIGHTHOUSE STORY 210

 THE RUNAWAY STORY 222

 THE TRAFALGAR STORY 243

 THE CARGO STORY 253

 THE PRIVATEER STORY 270

 THE RACE STORY 291

 THE PILOT STORY 310

 THE DRIFTWOOD STORY 325

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

 "They sailed on, in the moonlight. " (See page 297) _Frontispiece_

 "Sometimes he had to hold on to the fences" 11

 "They saw all sorts of things going up the river" 23

 "A great tree that was blown down" 29

 "It floated, burning, for a few minutes" 42

 "They swam in a funny sort of way" 48

 "They had more porpoises on deck than you would have thought that they could possibly use" 55

 "The surface of the sea seemed covered with them" 65

 "They amused themselves for a long time" 72

 "A school of fish suddenly leaped out of the water" 78

 "The sailors were having a good time" 81

 The Hour Glass 90

 "Little Jacob liked to watch Captain Solomon" 93

 "'Right there, ' he said, 'you can see his back fin'" 109

 The Shark 114

 "'Yes, little lad, ' he said. 'For you--if you want it'" 129

 Christmas Island, 1st View, bearing N by E 132

 Christmas Island, 2nd View, bearing SW 133

 "Little Jacob watched it . . . Settle into the ocean" 138

 The Lead 149

 "He walked all around the great yard with the boys on his back" 167

 "He was in the hold of the ship" 177

 The Albatross 188

 "They watched it the day after the next, too" 192

 "Captain Solomon . . . Was watching the moon" 199

 "The fire blazed up, higher and higher" 207

 "At last he went to sleep" 213

 The Lighthouse 220

 "It was a beautiful farm" 225

 "Took up his bundle and went out the wide gate" 231

 "He started up, thinking of the farm at home" 235

 The Bags of Money 251

 "Ran to get another bucket" 267

 "With guns and swords and cutlasses" 272

 "That was a signal for the _Industry_ to stop" 277

 "It was a bigger flag than the first one" 280

 "He took it up and looked, very carefully" 315

 "The sloop was on her way" 319

 "Many times had she been tied up at that wharf" 329

 "At last the arm-chair was all done" 338

 The Model of the _Industry_ 342

_The Sandman: His Sea Stories_

MORE STORIES OF THE BRIG "INDUSTRY"

THE SEPTEMBER-GALE STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been andalways will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of acity from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, forit is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grownup with weeds and grass. 

Once, more than a hundred years ago, when ships still came to thatwharf, the brig _Industry_ came sailing into that river. For she wasone of the ships that used to come to that wharf, and she used to sailfrom it to India and China, and she always brought back silks and clothof goats' hair and camels' hair shawls and sets of china and prettylacquered tables and trays, and things carved out of ebony and ivory andteakwood, and logs of teakwood and tea and spices. And she had just gotback from those far countries and Captain Solomon and all the sailorswere very glad to get back. For it was more than a year since she hadsailed out of the little river, and they hadn't seen their families forall that long time. And a year is a pretty long time for a man to besailing on the great ocean and not to see his wife and his dear littleboys and girls. 

So they hurried and tied the _Industry_ to the wharf with great ropesand they went away just as soon as they could. And the men that hadwives and little boys and girls went to see them, and the others wentsomewhere. Perhaps they went to the Sailors' Home and perhaps theydidn't. But Captain Solomon went to the office of Captain Jonathan andCaptain Jacob, who were the owners of the _Industry_. Their office wasjust at the head of the wharf, so he didn't have far to go. And CaptainJonathan and Captain Jacob were there waiting for him, and they shookhands with him and sent him packing off home, to see his wife and baby. For Captain Solomon hadn't been married much more than a year and he hadsailed away on that long voyage after he had been married four monthsand he had left his wife behind. And the baby had been born while hewas gone, so that he hadn't seen him yet. That baby was the one that wascalled little Sol, that is told about in some of the Ship Stories. Captain Solomon wanted to see his wife and his baby, so he hurried offwhen Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob told him to. 

Then the mate of the _Industry_ got a lot of men and had them take outof the ship all the things that she had brought from those farcountries. And they wheeled them, on little trucks, into the buildingwhere Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob had their office, and theypiled them up in a great empty room that smelled strangely of camphorand spices and tea and all sorts of other things that make a nicesmell. 

At last all the things were taken out of the _Industry_, so that shefloated very high up in the water and the top of her rail, which thesailors look over, was high above the wharf. And Captain Jonathan andCaptain Jacob came out of their office to speak to the mate. And themate said that the _Industry_ was all unloaded; for he was rather proudthat he had got all those many things out so quickly. 

And Captain Jonathan answered the mate and said how quick he had been. But Captain Jacob didn't say anything, for he was looking around at thesky. The mate saw that Captain Jacob was looking at the sky, and helooked up, too. 

"Looks as though we might have a breeze o' wind, " he said. For littlewhite feathery clouds were coming up from the southwest and coveringthe sky like a thin veil. 

Captain Jacob nodded. "More than a breeze, " he said; for Captain Jacobhad been a truly captain and he knew about the weather. 

"I've got out double warps, " said the mate; and he meant that he hadtied the _Industry_ to the wharf with two ropes instead of one at eachplace. 

Captain Jacob nodded again. "That's well, " he said. "That's just aswell. "

And the mate said "Good night, sir, " to Captain Jonathan and he said itto Captain Jacob, too, and they bade him good night, and he went home. 

That evening Captain Jacob heard the wind as he was playing chess withLois. Lois was Captain Jacob's wife. And Captain Jacob listened to thewind and forgot about the game of chess that he was playing, so thatLois beat him two games. That made Captain Jacob angry, for Lois didn'tcare much about chess and couldn't play as well as Captain Jacob could. She only played to please Captain Jacob, anyway. And Captain Jacob gotso angry that he put the chessmen away and went to bed; but he didn'tsleep very well, the wind howled so. 

Very early in the morning, long before daylight, Captain Jacob got up. He had been awake for some time, listening to the sound of the rainagainst his windows and to the howling and shrieking of the wind. And hewondered what was happening down on the river and if the _Industry_ wasall right. He knew well enough what was happening along the shore, andthat they would be hearing of wrecks for the next two weeks. They didn'thave the telegraph then, so that they wouldn't read in a morning paperwhat had happened far away during the night, but would have to wait forthe stage to bring them the news, or for some boat to bring it. SoCaptain Jacob got more and more uneasy, until, at last, he couldn'tstand it any longer. 

And he dressed himself as fast as he could and put on his heavy bootsand his great cloak, and he pulled his hat down hard, and he lighted alantern and started down to the wharf. It was hard work, for the windwas so strong that it almost took him up right off the ground, and blewhim along. And sometimes he had to hold on to the fences to keephimself from blowing away; and he had to watch for a chance, when thewind wasn't so strong for a minute, to cross the streets. Once he hearda great crash, and he knew that that was the sound of a chimney that thewind had blown over. But he couldn't stop to attend to that. 

[Illustration: "SOMETIMES HE HAD TO HOLD ON TO THE FENCES"]

When he got to the wharf, he was surprised to see how high the hull ofthe _Industry_ was. It wasn't daylight yet, but he could just make outthe bulk of it against the sky. And he was surprised because he knewthat it would not be time for the tide to be high for three hours yet, and the _Industry_ was floating as high as she would at a very hightide. So Captain Jacob made his way very carefully out on the wharf, holding on to ropes and to other things when there were other thingsto hold on to, and crouching down low, for he didn't want to be blownoff into the water. 

At last he got to the edge, and he held his lantern over and looked downat the water. And the top of the water was only about three feet down, for the wind was blowing straight up the river from the ocean, and itwas so strong that it had blown the water from the ocean into the river. And it was still blowing it in, and was getting stronger every minute. 

Captain Jacob looked at the water a minute. "Hello!" he said. But nobodycould have heard him, there was such a noise of the wind and of thewaves washing against the wharf. He didn't say it to anybody inparticular, so he wasn't disappointed that nobody heard him. And helistened again, and he thought he heard a noise as though somebody wason the _Industry_. So he climbed up the side, with his lantern, andthere he saw the mate, for it was just beginning to be a little bitlight in the east. The mate was trying to do something with an anchor;but the anchors were great, enormous, heavy things, and one man couldn'tdo anything with them at all. 

Captain Jacob went close beside the mate. "What you trying to do?" heyelled, as loud as he could. 

"What, sir?" asked the mate, yelling as loud as he could. 

"What--you--trying--to--do?" asked Captain Jacob again. The wind wasplaying a tune on every rope on the ship and singing a song besides, sothat the noise, up there on the deck, was fearful. 

"Trying to get an anchor out in the river, " yelled the mate, putting hishands to his mouth like a trumpet. "Wharf's going to be flooded as thetide rises. Afraid she'll capsize!"

"You can't do it alone, " yelled Captain Jacob. 

"No, " yelled the mate. "Can't! Get some men!"

"Good!" yelled Captain Jacob. And the mate climbed down the side. 

But the mate didn't have to go far, for some men were already coming aswell as they could, holding on by the fences on the way, and the matemet those men. And they came on the _Industry_, and lowered the biggestboat that she had into the water, and they all managed to get in, somehow or other, and to hold the boat while Captain Jacob and the matelowered the anchor into the boat, winding the chain around the capstan. The anchor was so heavy that it nearly sunk the boat, but it didn'tquite sink it. The end of the boat that the anchor was on was so nearthe water that water kept splashing in. 

Then the men all rowed very hard and the boat went ahead slowly, whileCaptain Jacob and the mate let out more of the anchor chain. But theycouldn't go very far, for the wind was so strong and the waves were sohigh and the heavy anchor chain held them back near the ship. When theyhad got as far as they could, they managed to pry the anchor overboard. It went into the water with a tremendous splash, wetting all the men;but they didn't mind, for they were all wet through already with therain and the splashing of the waves. And the boat turned around and wentback to the shore. But the men didn't try to row it back to the_Industry_. The wind blew them up the river, so that they got to theshore three or four wharves up, beyond the railway where they pulledships up out of the water to mend them. They then walked back as quicklyas they could. 

Captain Jacob and the mate had been working hard, taking in some of theanchor chain. They put two of the bars in the capstan head and pushed ashard as they could, and they had managed to get a strain on the anchorby the time the men got back. It was daylight, by this time, and thetide had risen so much that the men had to go splashing through waterthat was up to their ankles all over the top of the wharf. But theydidn't care, and they got up on the ship, and some of them put more barsin the capstan head and pushed, and some of them let out more of thegreat ropes that held the ship to the wharf. They wanted to get her awayfrom the wharf and out in the river, for they were afraid that the windmight blow her right over upon the wharf and tip her over. Then it wouldbe very hard to get her into the water again. 

When the anchor chain was pulled in enough, they fastened it and went tothe stern and down one of the great ropes that held the _Industry_ tothe wharf. They went down, half sliding and half letting themselves downby their hands, and Captain Jacob and the mate and all the men that wereon the ship went down that way. They all had been sailors, and a sailorhas to learn to do such things and not to be afraid. And they allsplashed into the water that was on the top of the wharf. Then they letout the ropes from that end, but they didn't let them go. And the_Industry_ lay out in the river, at anchor, about five fathoms from theend of the wharf. A fathom is six feet, and sailors generally measuredistances in fathoms instead of in feet. 

As soon as Captain Jacob had got to the wharf he yelled to the men andwaved his hand to them, for he was afraid that they could not hear himif he tried to tell them anything. And he started very carefully acrossthe wharf, holding on to anything he could get hold of, and all the menfollowed him. It was very hard work and very dangerous, too, going abouton top of the wharf, for the water was nearly up to the men's knees, andit was all wavy. And Captain Jacob led the way to the office and openedthe door and they all went in. 

As soon as they were inside, they began taking all the things that werepiled up in that great room that had the nice smell, and they carriedthem up stairs. They didn't wait to be told what to do, for they knewwell enough that Captain Jacob was afraid that the tide might rise sohigh that the floor of that room and of the office would be coveredwith water and all the pretty things would be wet and spoiled. Ofcourse, water wouldn't spoil the china and such things, but it wouldspoil the shawls and the silks and the tea and the spices. So theyworked hard until they had all the things up stairs. 

And, by that time, the water was beginning to come in at the door and tocreep along over the floor; and Captain Jacob and the mate and all themen went outside, and stood where they were sheltered from the wind, andthey watched the river, that stretched out very wide indeed, and theywatched the things that were being driven up on its surface by the wind, and they watched the _Industry_. 

They were all standing in the water, but they didn't know it. And theysaw all sorts of things going up the river, with the wind and thewaves: many small boats that had been dragged from their moorings or offthe beaches; and some larger boats that belonged to fishermen; and someof the fishermen's huts that had stood in a row on a beach; and a partof a house that had been built too near the water; and logs and boardsfrom the wharves and all kinds of drifting stuff. It was almost hightide now, and the wind was stronger than ever. None of the men had hadany breakfast, but they didn't think of that. 

"About the height of it, now, " said the mate to Captain Jacob. Theycould hear each other speak where they were standing, in a place thatwas sheltered by the building. "Not so bad here, in the lee of theoffice. And the wind'll go down as the tide turns, I'm thinking. "

[Illustration: "THEY SAW ALL SORTS OF THINGS GOING UP THE RIVER"]

Captain Jacob nodded. He was watching the _Industry_ pitching in thegreat seas that were coming up the river. 

"She ought to have more chain out, " he said anxiously. "I wish we couldhave given her more chain. It's a terrible strain. "

"If a man was to go out to her, " began the mate, slowly, "he might beable to give her more. He could shin up those warps----"

"Don't think of it!" said Captain Jacob. "Don't think of it!"

As he spoke, the ship's bow lifted to a great sea, there was a dullsound that was scarcely heard, and she began to drift, slowly, at first, until she was broadside to the wind. The anchor chain had broken; butthe great ropes that were fastened to the wharf still held her by thestern. Then she drifted faster, in toward the wharves. There was a soundlike the report of a small cannon; then another and another. The greatropes that had held her to the wharf had snapped like thread. 

"Well, " said Captain Jacob, "now I wonder where she'll bring up. Wecan't do anything. "

So they watched her drifting in to the wharf where the railway was, where they pulled ships up out of the water to mend them. And CaptainJonathan was coming down to the office just as the _Industry_ brokeadrift, and he saw that she would come ashore at the railway. So hestopped there and waited for her to come. They had there a sort ofcradle, that runs down into the water on rails; and a ship fits into thecradle and is drawn up out of the water to be mended. And CaptainJonathan thought of that, and he thought that it wouldn't do any harm tolower the cradle and see if the _Industry_ wouldn't happen to fit intoit. It might not do any good, but it couldn't do any harm; and the_Industry_ was all unloaded, and floated very high in the water. 

So Captain Jonathan and two other men, who belonged at that railway, lowered the cradle as much as they thought would be right, and the_Industry_ drifted in and she did happen to catch on the cradle. Shedidn't fit into it exactly, for she was heeled over by the wind, andshe caught on the cradle more on one side than the other; but CaptainJonathan thought that she would go into the water all right when thetide went down a little and the cradle was lowered more. And he was gladthat he had happened to think of it. 

Then, pretty soon, the tide began to go out again, and the wind stoppedblowing so hard. And, in an hour, there was not more than a strong galeblowing, and men began to go out in row boats that hadn't broken adrift, and to pick things up as they came down with the tide. The sea was veryrough, but they were afraid that the things would drift out to sea ifthey waited. 

And, in a couple of hours more, Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob andthe mate and all the men had the _Industry_ afloat again and werewarping her back to her wharf. There was no great harm done; only somemarks of scraping and bumping and the anchor down at the bottom of theriver. 

[Illustration]

Then Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob went home to dinner, and prettysoon all the men went, too. And they saw a great many chimneys blownover into yards and a great many fences blown down; and they came to agreat tree that was blown down across the street, and then they sawanother and a third. And they had to go through somebody's yard to getaround these trees. And, when they got home, they heard about an oldwoman who had tried to go somewhere, who had been picked up by the windand carried a long way and set down again on her own doorstep. And shehad taken the hint and gone into the house. 

That great wind, they called the Great September Gale, for it happenedin the early part of September. That is the time of the year that suchgreat winds are most apt to come. And all the people had it to talkabout for a long time, for there wasn't another such gale for more thantwenty years. 

And that's all. 

THE FIRE STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been andalways will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of acity from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, forit is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grownup with weeds and grass. 

One day, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ sailed away from thatwharf, on a voyage to India. And she sailed down the wide river and outinto the great ocean and on and on until the land was only a dim bluestreak on the horizon; and farther on, and the land sank out of sight, and there was nothing to be seen, wherever Captain Solomon looked, butthat great, big water, that was so blue and that danced and sparkled inthe sunshine. For it was a beautiful afternoon and there was just agentle wind blowing, so that the _Industry_ had every bit of sail setthat could be set: mainsail and foresail and spanker, main-topsail, andfore-topsail, main-topgallantsail and fore-topgallantsail and main-royaland fore-royal and main-skysail and fore-skysail and staysails and allher jibs and a studdingsail on every yard, out on its boom. She wassailing very fast, and she was a pretty sight, with that cloud ofcanvas. She looked like a great white bird. I wish that you and I couldhave seen her. 

And the crew didn't have much to do, when they had got all those sailsset. They had already been divided into watches, so that every man knewwhat his duty would be, and when he would have to be on deck, ready towork, and when he could sleep. And they stood at the rail, mostly, andthey leaned on it and looked out over the water in the direction of thatlittle city that they were leaving behind them and that they wouldn'tsee again for nearly a year. They couldn't see the little city becauseit was down behind the roundness of the world; but they saw the sun, which was almost setting. And the sun sank lower and lower until it sankinto the sea. And there were all sorts of pretty colors, in the west, which changed and grew dim, and disappeared. And the stars came out, oneby one, and it was night. 

Captain Solomon didn't have any of those many sails taken in, becausehe knew that it would be pleasant weather all night, and that the windwould be less rather than more. And it was such a beautiful night thathe didn't go to bed early, but stayed on deck until it was very late;and he watched the stars and the water and he listened to the wash ofthe waves as the ship went through them and he saw the foam that shemade; and he felt the gentle wind blowing on his cheek, and it allseemed very good to him. Captain Solomon loved the sea. Then, when itwas very late, and they were just going to change the watch, he wentinto the cabin to go to bed. 

Before he had got his clothes off, he heard a commotion on deck, and themate came running down. 

"The ship's on fire, sir, " he said. "There's smoke coming out of theforward hatch. "

Captain Solomon said something and threw on his clothes that he hadtaken off and ran out on deck. It was less than half a minute from thetime the mate had told him. And he saw a little, thin column of smokerising out of the forward hatchway, just as the mate had said. They hadthe hatch off by this time, and the sailors were all on deck. Thehatchway is a square hole in the deck that leads down into the hold, where the things are put that the ship carries. It has a cover made ofplanks, and the cover fits on tightly and can be fastened down. Itusually is fastened when the ship is going. 

Captain Solomon spoke to the mate. "Put her about on the other tack, "he said, "and head for Boston, while we fight it. If we get it under, asI think we will, we'll lose only a couple of hours. If we don't, we canget help there. We ought to make Boston by daylight. "

"Aye, aye, sir, " said the mate. And he gave the orders in a sharp voice, and most of the crew jumped for the sails and the ropes and pulled andhauled, and they soon had the ship heading for Boston. But the secondmate and a few of the sailors got lanterns and lighted them. 

And, when they had lighted their lanterns, the second mate jumped downthe hatchway into the smoke, and four sailors jumped down after him. Andthey began tumbling about the bales of things; but they couldn't tumblethem about very much, for there wasn't room, the cargo had been stowedso tightly. And the second mate asked Captain Solomon to rig a tackle tohoist some of the things out on deck. 

"Doing it, now, " answered Captain Solomon. "It'll be ready in half aminute. "

And they got the tackle rigged right over the hatchway, and they letdown one end of the rope to the second mate. This end of the rope thatwas let down had two great, iron hooks that could be hooked into a bale, one on each side. And the second mate and the sailors that were downthere with him hooked them into a bale and yelled. Then a great many ofthe sailors, who already had hold of the other end of the rope, ran awaywith it, so that the bale came up as if it had been blown up throughthe hatchway. Then other sailors caught it, and threw it over to oneside and unhooked the hooks, and they let them down into the hold again. 

They got up a great many bales in this way, and they did it faster thanthe _Industry_ had ever been unloaded before. And the sailors that ranaway with the rope sang as they ran. 

 "What shall we do with a drunken sailor?"

was the chanty that they sang. And, at last, the second mate and thefour sailors came out of the hold, and they were choking with the smokeand rubbing their eyes. 

"Getting down to it, sir, " said the second mate, "but we couldn't standany more. "

So the first mate didn't wait, but he took the second mate's lantern andjumped down. 

"Four men follow me!" he cried; and all the other sailors, who hadn'tbeen down yet, jumped for the lanterns of the four sailors who had beendown, and Captain Solomon laughed. 

"That's the way to do it!" he cried. "That's the sort of spirit I liketo see. We'll have it out in a jiffy. Four of you men at a time. You'llall have a turn. Man the pumps, some of you, and be ready to turn astream down there if it's wanted. "

So the four who had been nearest to the lanterns went down, and some ofthe others tailed on to the rope, and still others got the pumps readyand rigged a hose and put the end of it down the hatchway. But theydidn't pump, because Captain Solomon knew that water would do harm tothe cargo that wasn't harmed yet, and he didn't want to pump water intothe hold unless he had to. 

Then they all hurried some more and got out more bales, until the mateand his four men had to come up; but there were more men waiting to godown, and, this time, Captain Solomon led them. 

He hadn't been there long before he called out. "Here she is!" he said. And the sailors hoisted out a bale that was smoking. As soon as it wason deck, out in the air, it burst into flames. 

Captain Solomon had come up. "Heave it overboard!" he cried. And foursailors took hold of it and heaved it over the side into the water. The_Industry_ was sailing pretty fast and quickly left it astern, where itfloated, burning, for a few minutes; then, as the water soaked into thebale, it got heavier, and sank, and the sailors saw the light go out, suddenly. 

[Illustration]

Captain Solomon drew a long breath. "Put her on her course again, Mr. Steele, " he said to the mate. "We won't lose any more time. You can havethis mess cleared up in the morning. "

And the sailors jumped for the ropes, although they were pretty tired, and they swung the yards around, two at a time, with a chanty for each. The _Industry_ was sailing away for India again. And, the next day theycleared the smoke out of the hold, and they stowed the cargo that hadbeen taken out in the night, and they put on the hatch and fastened it. 

And that's all. 

THE PORPOISE STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been andalways will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of acity from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, forit is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grownup with weeds and grass. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed away from thewharf and out into the great ocean on a voyage to India. And she hadbeen gone from the wide river three or four days, and she was well outinto the ocean and no land was in sight, but only water and once in awhile another ship. But they didn't see ships as often as they had atfirst, and it was good weather and the wind was fair, so that therewasn't anything much for the sailors to do. The mates kept them as busyas they could, washing down the deck and coiling ropes, and doing a lotof other things that didn't need to be done, for the _Industry_ had justbeen fixed up and painted and made as clean as she could be made. Andthat was pretty clean. So the sailors didn't care very much about doinga lot of things that didn't need to be done, but they did them, asslowly as they could, because, if they said that they wouldn't do thingsthat the mates or the captain told them to do, that would be mutiny. Andmutiny, at sea, is a very serious thing for everybody. It satisfiedCaptain Solomon and the mate well enough to have the men do thingsslowly, so long as they did them. For they knew that the men would dothings quickly if there was any need for quickness. 

Then, one morning, just as it began to be light, the man who was thelookout thought that he saw something in the water about the ship thatdidn't look quite like waves. And it got a little lighter so that hecould make sure, and he called some others of his watch and told them tolook and see the school of porpoises. And they all looked, and those mentold others who looked over the side, too, and pretty soon all the menof that watch were leaning on the rail and looking at the porpoises. That made the mate who was on watch look over, too, so that every man ondeck was looking over the side into the water. Then the sun came up outof the water. 

[Illustration]

What they saw was a great many big fishes, all black and shining, andeach one had spots of white on its side and a funny-shaped head. Most ofthem seemed to be about the size of a man, and they swam in a funny sortof way, in and out of the water, so that their backs showed most of thetime, and they glistened and shone and their spots of white made themrather a pretty sight. And now and then they spouted little jets ofwater and spray out of their heads into the air, just as if they werelittle whales. Porpoises are more like little whales than they are likefishes, for they have to breathe air, just as whales do, and they spoutjust as whales do, and they are like whales in other ways. They aren'treally fishes, at all. 

The _Industry_ was sailing very fast, for the wind was fair and strong, and she had all the sails set that she could set; but the porpoisesdidn't seem to think she was going very fast, for they had no trouble atall to keep up with her and they could play by the way, too. And sothey did, hundreds of them. Some of them kept just ahead of her stem, where it cut through the water, and they leaped and gambolled, but theship never caught up with them. And they were doing the same thing allabout. 

Seeing the porpoises that kept just ahead of the _Industry_ made thesailors think of something and they all thought of the same thing atonce. Perhaps it was because it was about breakfast time. Four of themen went aft to speak to the mate, who was standing where the deck ishigher. And the mate didn't wait for them to speak, for he knew justwhat they were going to ask him. The men had their hats in their handsby the time they got near. 

The mate smiled. "Yes, you may, " he said. "I'll get 'em. " And he wentinto the cabin. 

When he had gone the men grinned at each other and looked pleased andeach man was thinking that the mate was not so bad, after all, even ifhe did make them do work that didn't need to be done, just to kept thembusy. But they didn't say anything. 

Then the mate came out, and he had two harpoons in his hand. 

"There!" he said. "Two's enough. You'd only get in each other's way ifthere were more. Bend a line on to each, and make it fast, somewhere. "

Then Captain Solomon came on deck, and he offered a prize of half apound of tobacco to the best harpooner. And the men cheered when theyheard him, and they took the harpoons and ran forward. 

They hurried and fastened a rather small rope on to each harpoon, in theway a rope ought to be fastened to a harpoon, and two of the sailorstook the two harpoons and went down under the bowsprit, in among thechains that go from the end of the bowsprit to the stem of the ship. They went there so as to be near the water. They might get wet there, but they didn't care about that. And the other end of the rope, that wasfastened to each harpoon, was made fast up on deck, so that the harpoonshouldn't be lost if it wasn't stuck into a porpoise, and so that theporpoise shouldn't get away if it was stuck into him. 

One of the sailors was so excited that he didn't hit anything with hisharpoon, and the sailors up on deck hauled it in. The other sailormanaged to hit a porpoise, but he was excited, too, and the harpoondidn't go in the right place. When the sailors up on deck tried to haulthe porpoise in, it broke away, and went swimming off. 

Then those sailors came back on deck and two others took their places. One of those others had been harpooner on a whaleship before he went onthe _Industry_. He didn't get excited at harpooning a porpoise, butdrove his harpoon in at just exactly the right place, and the sailors upon deck hauled that porpoise in. Afterwards, that sailor got the halfpound of tobacco that Captain Solomon had offered as a prize, because heharpooned his porpoise just exactly the right way. 

The sailor that went with him struck a porpoise, too, but it wasn'tquite in the right place, and the men had hard work to get him. 

And then other sailors came and tried, and they took turns until theyhad more porpoises on deck than you would have thought that they couldpossibly use. 

And all the men had porpoise steak for breakfast that morning andporpoise steak for dinner, and porpoise steak for supper. Sailors callporpoises "puffing pigs, " and porpoise steak tastes something like porksteak, and sailors like it. But they had it for every meal until therewas only one porpoise left, and that one they had to throw overboard. 

And that's all. 

[Illustration: "THEY HAD MORE PORPOISES ON DECK THAN YOU WOULD HAVETHOUGHT THAT THEY COULD POSSIBLY USE"]

THE SEAWEED STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been andalways will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of acity from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, forit is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grownup with weeds and grass. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they made up theirminds that they ought to move their office to Boston. And so they did. And, after that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston and CaptainJonathan and Captain Jacob had their office on India street. Then thechange began in that little city and that wharf. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from Boston for afar country, and little Jacob had gone on that voyage. Little Jacob wasCaptain Jacob's son and Lois's, and the grandson of Captain Jonathan, and when he went on that voyage he was almost thirteen years old. Andlittle Sol went, too. He was Captain Solomon's son, and he was only afew months younger than little Jacob. Captain Solomon had taken him inthe hope that the voyage would discourage him from going to sea. But, asit turned out, it didn't discourage him at all, but he liked going tosea, so that afterwards he ran away and went to sea, and became thecaptain of that very ship, as you shall hear. 

The _Industry_ had been out a little more than a week, and she had runinto a storm. The storm didn't do any harm except to blow her out of hercourse, and then she ran out of it. And the next morning little Jacobcame out on deck and he looked for little Sol. The first place that helooked in was out on the bowsprit; for little Sol liked to be out there, where he could see all about him and could see the ship making the waveat her bow and feel as if he wasn't on the ship, at all, but free asair. It was a perfectly safe place to be in, for there were nettings oneach side to keep him from falling, and he didn't go out beyond thenettings onto the part that was just a round spar sticking out. 

When little Jacob got to the bow of the ship, he looked out on thebowsprit, and there was little Sol; but he wasn't lying on his back ashe was most apt to be, nor he wasn't lying down with one hand proppingup his head, which was the way he liked to lie to watch the wave thatthe ship made. He was lying stretched out on his stomach, with bothhands propping up his chin, and he was looking straight out ahead, sothat he didn't see little Jacob. And the _Industry_ was pitching a gooddeal, for the storm had made great waves, like mountains, and the wavesthat were left were still great. The ship made a sort of growling noiseas she went down into a wave, and a sort of hissing noise as she cameup out of it, and little Jacob was--well, not afraid, exactly, but hedidn't just like to go out there where little Sol was, with the shipmaking all those queer noises. You see, it was little Jacob's firststorm at sea. It was little Sol's first storm, too; but then, boys aredifferent. 

So little Jacob called. "Sol!" he said. 

Little Sol turned his head quickly. "Hello, Jake, " said he. "Come onout. There's lots to see out here to-day. "

"Are--are there things to see that I couldn't see from here?" askedlittle Jacob. 

"Of course there are, " answered little Sol, scornfully. "You can't seeanything from there--anything much. "

"The ship pitches a good deal, " remarked little Jacob. "Don't you thinkso?"

"Oh, some, " said little Sol, "but it's safe enough after you get here. You could crawl out. I walked out. See here, I'll walk in, to where youare, on my hands. "

And little Sol scrambled up and walked in on his hands, with his feet inthe air. He let his feet down carelessly. "There!" he said. "You see. "

"Well, " said little Jacob. "I can't walk on my hands, because I don'tknow how. You show me, Sol, will you?--when it's calm. And I'll walk outon my feet. "

Little Jacob was rather white, but he didn't hesitate, and he walked outon the bowsprit to the place where he generally sat. It was rather hardwork keeping his balance, but he did it. And little Sol came after, andsaid he would show him how to walk on his hands, some day when it wascalm enough. For little Sol didn't think little Jacob was afraid, andthe two boys liked each other very much. 

"There!" said little Sol, when they were settled, "you look out ahead, and see if you see anything. "

So little Jacob looked and looked for a long time, but he didn't knowwhat he was looking for, and that makes a great difference about seeinga thing. 

"I don't see anything, " said he. "What is it, Sol--a ship!"

"No, oh no, " answered little Sol. "It's on the water--on the surface. We've almost got to one of 'em. "

[Illustration]

So little Jacob looked again, and he saw what looked, at first, like acalm streak on the water. There seemed to be little sticks sticking upout of the calm streak. Then he saw that it looked like a narrow island, except that it went up and down with the waves. Sometimes he saw onepart of it, and then he saw another part. And the island was all coveredwith water, and the water near it was calm, and it was a yellowishbrown, like seaweed. In a minute or two the _Industry_ was ploughingthrough it, and he could see that it was a great mass of floatingseaweed that gave way, before the ship, like water, and the littlesticks that he had seen, sticking up, were the stems. A little way aheadthere was another of the floating islands; and another and another, until the surface of the sea seemed covered with them. They were reallyfifteen or twenty fathoms apart; but, from a distance, it didn't look asif they were. 

"Why, Sol, " said little Jacob, in surprise, "it doesn't stop the ship atall. I should think it would. What is it?"

"Well, " answered little Sol. "I asked one of the men, and he laughed andsaid it was nothing but seaweed--that the ship would make nothing of it. I was afraid we were running aground. And the man said that the rows--itgets in windrows, like hay that's being raked up--he said that thewindrows were broken up a good deal by the storm; that he's often seen'em stretching as far as the eye could see, and a good deal thicker thanthese are. "

Little Jacob laughed. "What are you laughing at?" asked little Sol, looking up. 

"'As far as the eye could see, '" said little Jacob. 

"Well, " said little Sol, "that's just what he said, anyway. "

"I'm going to ask your father about it, " said little Jacob. "He'll knowall about it. He always knows. " And he got up, carefully, and made hisway inboard; then he ran aft, to look for Captain Solomon. 

He found Captain Solomon on the quarter deck, leaning against the partof the cabin that stuck up through the deck. He was half sitting on itand looking out at the rows of seaweed that they passed. So little Jacobasked him. 

"Yes, Jacob, " answered Captain Solomon, "it's just seaweed, nothing butseaweed. We're just on the edge of the Sargasso Sea, and that meansnothing but Seaweed Sea. The weed gets in long rows, just as you see itnow, only the rows are apt to be longer and not so broken up. It's thewind that does it, and the ocean currents. It's my belief that the windis the cause of the currents, too. I've seen acres of this weed packedso tight together that it looked as if we were sailing on my southmeadow just at haying time. I don't see that south meadow at haying timevery often, now, but I shall see it, please God, pretty soon. "

"Well, " said little Jacob, "I should think that it would get all tangledup so that it would stop the ship. "

"My south meadow?" asked Captain Solomon. He was thinking of haying, andhe had forgotten the Seaweed Sea. 

Little Jacob laughed. "No, sir, " he answered. "The seaweed. Why doesn'tit get all tangled like ropes, so that it stops the ship?"

"The plants aren't long enough, " said Captain Solomon. "Come, we'll getsome of it for you. "

"Oh!" cried little Jacob. "Will you? Thank you, sir. "

And Captain Solomon told two of the sailors to come and to bring a bigbucket. The bucket had a long rope fastened across, and the end was longenough to reach from the water up to the deck of the _Industry_. Theyuse buckets like that to dip up the salt water; and, when the ship isgoing the sailors have to be very careful and very quick or they willlose the bucket, it pulls so hard. 

So one sailor dipped the bucket just as they were passing over one ofthe rows of seaweed; and the other sailor took hold of the rope, too, assoon as he had dipped the bucket, and they pulled it up and set it ondeck. Captain Solomon stooped and took up a plant. There were two plantsin the bucket. Little Sol had come when he saw the sailors with thebucket. 

And Captain Solomon showed the boys that a plant was about the size of acabbage, and that it had a great many little balloons that grew on itabout as big as a pea, and these balloons were filled with air to makethe plant float. Some of them were almost as big as a nut, and littleSol and little Jacob had fun trying to make them pop. 

[Illustration]

Then little Sol found a tiny fish in the bucket that was just the colorof the weed; and little Jacob saw another, and then he saw a crab dropfrom the weed that Captain Solomon was holding, and the crab was justthe color of the weed, too. And they amused themselves for a long timewith hunting for the queer fishes and crabs and shrimps, and somethingthat was like a mussel, but it wasn't just like one, either. And theyfound a place in the weed where were some little balls. And they openedthe balls, and little Sol said he'd bet that they were where someanimal laid its eggs. But little Jacob didn't say anything, for hedidn't pretend to know anything about it. But Captain Solomon got tiredof holding that weed, so he dropped it back into the bucket and wentaway. And, at last, when little Jacob and little Sol got tired ofhunting for things in the weed, the sailors threw it over into the oceanagain. 

And that's all. 

THE FLYING-FISH STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been andalways will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of acity from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, forit is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grownup with weeds and grass. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from Boston for a far country andshe had got down into the warm parts of the ocean. Little Jacob andlittle Sol had gone on that voyage. Little Sol always got out on deck, in the morning, a little while before little Jacob got out. And, onemorning, he had gone on deck and little Jacob was hurrying to finish hisbreakfast, when little Sol came running back and stuck his head in atthe cabin door. 

"Oh, Jake, " he called, "come out here, quick! There are fishes withwings on 'em, and they are flying all 'round. "

Then little Jacob was very much excited, and he wanted to leave the restof his breakfast and go out. All of a sudden he found that he wasn'thungry. But Captain Solomon was there, and he smiled at little Jacob'seagerness. 

"Better finish your breakfast, Jacob, " he said. "The flying fish won'tgo away--not before you get through. "

"Thank you, sir, " said little Jacob. "I'm all through. I don't feelhungry for any more. "

"All right, " said Captain Solomon. "But if you and Sol get hungry youcan go to the cook. I have an idea that he will have something for you. "

Little Jacob was already half way up the cabin steps. "Thank you, sir, "he said; but there was some doubt whether he had heard. Captain Solomonsmiled again and got up and followed him. 

Little Sol was in his favorite place on the bowsprit, and little Jacobwas going there as fast as he could. He settled himself in his placeand began to look around. 

"Where, Sol?" he asked. "Where are the--oh!"

[Illustration]

For, just ahead of the ship, a school of fish suddenly leaped out of thewater, and went flying about fifteen or twenty feet above the water fora hundred feet or more. And they kept coming. Little Jacob could hearthe humming of their long fins, but he couldn't see their fins, theywent so fast. Little Sol had thought they were wings; and it was asnearly right to call them wings as to call them fins. 

"Oo--o, Sol!" cried little Jacob. "_Aren't_ they pretty? And aren't theysmall? And don't they fly fast?"

"M--m, " said little Sol. 

"Look at these over there!" cried little Jacob, again. "See! They areflying faster than the ship is going. They are beating us!"

Little Jacob was pointing to some fish that were flying in the samedirection that the _Industry_ was sailing. They went ahead of her anddropped into the water. 

"H'mph!" said little Sol. "There isn't much wind, anyway. If there was, I'll bet they wouldn't beat us. " There really was a good deal of wind. 

"But aren't they pretty colors, Sol?" said little Jacob. "They're allcolors of blue and silvery. I can't see them very plainly, they go sofast. I wish I could see them plainer. "

Captain Solomon was standing near enough to hear what little Jacob said. 

"If you'll come inboard, Jacob, " said Captain Solomon, "you can seethem. We're catching them. "

[Illustration: "THE SAILORS WERE HAVING A GOOD TIME"]

And little Jacob turned his head, and then he scrambled in. Now and thensome of the flying fish flew right across the deck of the _Industry_. And some of them came down on the deck, and some struck against themasts and ropes; and the sailors were standing all about, lookingexcited, as if they were playing a game. They had their caps in theirhands, and when the fish flew across the deck, they tried to catchthem in their caps. And some they caught and some they didn't; but thesailors were having a good time, and they laughed and shouted at theirplay. 

And a sailor who had just caught a fish in his cap brought it to littleJacob. 

"Now you can see it plainer, " said Captain Solomon. 

Little Jacob looked and he saw a fish that was less than a foot long, and the color on its back was a deep, ocean blue, and the fins were adarker blue, and it was all silvery underneath. And it had long finscoming out of its shoulders, almost as long as the fish, and they lookedvery strong and almost like a swallow's wings. 

By and by little Jacob looked up at Captain Solomon. "Why do the menwant to catch so many of them?" he asked. "Because it's fun?"

"Well, no, " said Captain Solomon. "It is great fun. I've done it myself, in my day. But these fish are very good to eat. Any kind of fresh meatis a good thing, when you know there's nothing better than salted meatto fall back on. You'll see how good they are, at dinner. "

Little Jacob sighed. "Oh, " he said. "Thank you for showing me. "

And he was rather sober as he went back to his place on the bowsprit towatch. But when dinner time came, he ate some of the flying fish andthought they were very nice, indeed. 

And that's all. 

THE LOG-BOOK STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from Boston for afar country, and little Jacob and little Sol had gone on that voyage. Little Jacob and little Sol were very much interested in the things thatthey saw every day and in the things that were done every day on theship by the sailors and by the mates and by Captain Solomon. But thosethings that happened the same sort of way, every day, interested littleJacob more than they did little Sol. Little Sol liked to see them a fewtimes, until he knew just what to expect, and then he liked to be out onthe bowsprit, seeing the things that he didn't expect; or he liked to bedoing things. And the things that he did were the sort of things thatnobody else expected. So the things that little Sol did were anamusement to the sailors and to the mates; and sometimes they were anamusement to Captain Solomon and sometimes they weren't. When theydidn't amuse Captain Solomon they didn't usually amuse little Sol, either. 

Every captain of a ship keeps a sort of diary, or journal, of the voyagethat ship is making. This diary is usually called the ship's log. Andevery day he writes in it what happened that day; the courses the shipsailed and the number of miles she sailed on each course; the sails thatwere set and the direction and strength of the wind; and the state ofthe weather and the exact part of the ocean she was in and the time thatshe was there. 

The exact part of the ocean that the ship is in is usually found bylooking at the sun, just at noon, through a little three-cornered thing, called a sextant, that is small enough for the captain or the mate tohold in his hands; and by seeing what time it is, by a sort of clock, when the sun is the very highest. Then the captain goes down into thecabin and does some arithmetic out of a book, using the things that hissextant had told him, and he finds just exactly where the ship was atnoon of that day. Then he pricks the position of the ship on a chart, which is a map of the ocean, so that he can see how well she is going onher course. 

Sometimes it is cloudy at noon, so that he can't look at the sun then, but it clears up after dark. Then the captain looks through his sextantat the moon, or at some bright star, and finds his position that way. And sometimes it is cloudy for several days together, so that he can'ttake an observation with his sextant in all that time. Captains don'tlike it very well when it is cloudy for several days together, for thenthey have nothing to tell them just where the ship is, but what iscalled "dead reckoning. "

[Illustration]

Captain Solomon usually had the speed at which the ship was sailingmeasured several times every day. When he wanted that done, he called asailor to "heave the log;" and the sailor came and took up a real log, or board, fastened to the end of a long rope, while one of the matesheld an hour glass. But there wasn't sand enough in the glass to run foran hour, but it would run for half a minute. And when the mate gave theword, the sailor dropped the log over the stern of the ship and the mateturned the glass. And the sailor held the reel with the rope on it, sothat the rope would run off freely, and he counted, aloud, the knots inthe rope as it ran out. For the rope had knots of colored leather in it, and the knots were just far enough apart so that the number of knotsthat ran out in half a minute would show the number of sea miles thatthe ship was sailing in an hour. And when the sand in the glass had allrun out, the mate gave the word again, and the sailor stopped the ropefrom running out. So Captain Solomon knew about how many miles the_Industry_ had sailed on each course, and he could put it down in hisbook. 

That wasn't a very good way to tell where the ship was, by adding up allthe courses she had sailed and getting her speed on each course, andadding all these to the last place that they knew about, but, whenCaptain Solomon couldn't get an observation with his sextant, it was theonly way there was. That isn't the way they tell, now-a-days, how manymiles a ship has sailed, for there is a better way that gives, moreexactly than the old-fashioned "log, " the number of miles. But theystill have to add up all the courses and the miles sailed on each courseto find a ship's place, when they can't take an observation. That iswhat is called "dead reckoning, " and it isn't a very good way at itsbest. 

[Illustration: "LITTLE JACOB LIKED TO WATCH CAPTAIN SOLOMON"]

Little Jacob liked to watch Captain Solomon writing up the log for theday. He always wrote it just after dinner. And when he had finisheddinner, he would get out the book and clear a place on the table to putit; and then he took a quill pen in his great fist and wrote, veryslowly, and with flourishes. And when he had it done he always passedthe book over to little Jacob. 

"There, Jacob, " he said, with a smile. "That please you?"

"Oh, yes, sir, " answered little Jacob. "Thank you, sir. " And he began toread. 

One day, when they had been out of Boston about three weeks, littleJacob watched Captain Solomon write up the log, and, when he got it, hethought he would turn back to some days that he knew about and read whatCaptain Solomon had said about them. And so he did. 

 October 2, 1796. 8 days out. Comes in fresh gales & Flying clouds. Middle & latter part much the same, with all proper sail spread. Imploy'd varnishing Deck and scraping Foreyard. Saw a Brig and two Ships standing to the N. & W. A school of porpoises about the ship a good part of the Morning, of which the Crew harpooned a good number and got them on deck. I fear they are too many for us to acct. For before they go Bad. 

 Course ESE 186 miles. Wind fresh from S. & W. Observatn, Lat. 34 20 N. Long. 53 32 W. 

That didn't seem to little Jacob to be enough to say about theporpoises. He sighed and turned to another day. 

 October 5, 1796. 11 days out. Comes in Fresh breezes and a rough sea fr. S. & E. Spoke Brig Transit of Workington fr. --S. Salvador for Hamburg. Middle & latter part moderate with clear skies and beautiful weather. Ran into some weed and running threw it off and on all day. 

 Courses ESE 98 m. Wind strong fr. N. & E. , moderating to gentle airs. 

 SSE. 54 m. Observatn. , ---- Lat. 30 22 N. 152 Long. 47 30 W. 

And it seemed to little Jacob that it was a shame to say no more thanthat about that strange Seaweed Sea and the curious things that were tobe found in it. But it was Captain Solomon's log and not little Jacob's. He turned to another day, to see what there was about the flying fish. 

 October 11, 1796. 17 days out of Boston. Comes in with good fresh Trades and flying clouds. Middle & latter part much the same. Saw a ship standing on our course. Not near enough to speak her. At daylight passed the ship abt. 5 miles to windward. All proper sail spread. 

 Great numbers of Flying Fish (Sea Swallows) all about the ship, and the men imploy'd in catching them. It gave the men much pleasure and a deal of sport and the Fish very good eating. 

 Course SSE 203 miles. Wind NE. Strong, Trades. Observatn. , Lat. 18 10 N. Long. 37 32 W. 

 Chronometer loses _too much_. 

 Took Spica and Aquila at 7 p. M. , Long. 35 30 W. 

Little Jacob didn't know what Spica and Aquila were, and he askedCaptain Solomon. 

"They are stars, Jacob, and rather bright ones, " said Captain Solomon. "My chronometer--my clock, you know--was losing a good deal, and Ilooked through my sextant at them to find out where we really were. "

"Oh, " said little Jacob; but he didn't understand very well, and CaptainSolomon saw that he didn't. It wasn't strange that he didn'tunderstand. 

Little Jacob sat looking at the log book and he didn't say anything fora long time. 

Captain Solomon smiled. "Well, Jacob, " he said, at last, "what are youthinking about? I guess you were thinking that you wished that you hadthe log to write up. Then you could say more about the things that wereinteresting. Weren't you?"

Little Jacob got very red. "Oh, no, sir, " he said. "That is, I--well, you see, the things that are new and interesting to me--well, I s'poseyou have seen them so many times that it doesn't seem worth while to youto say much about them. "

"That is a part of the reason, " answered Captain Solomon. "The otherpart is that it doesn't seem necessary. Anything that concerns the shipis put down. We don't have time--nor we don't have the wish--to put downanything else. "

"Of course, " said little Jacob, "it isn't necessary. "

"I'll tell you what I'll do, Jacob, " said Captain Solomon. "I'll let youwrite up the log, and then you can write as much as you like aboutanything that interests you. "

Little Jacob got very red again. "_Oh!_" he cried, getting up in hisexcitement. "Will you let me do that? _Thank_ you. I thank you verymuch. But--but how shall I put down all those numbers that show how theship goes?"

"I'll give you the numbers, as you call them, " said Captain Solomon, "and I'll look over the log every day, to see that you put them downright. "

"I'll put them down just exactly the way you tell me to, " said littleJacob. "And I thank you very much. And I--I write pretty well. "

And little Jacob ran to find little Sol and to tell him about how he wasgoing to write the log of the voyage, after that. And he did write it, numbers and all, and it was a very interesting and well written log. Forlittle Jacob could write very well indeed; rather better than CaptainSolomon. Captain Solomon knew that when he said that little Jacob couldwrite it. 

And that's all. 

THE SHARK STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's, and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once the brig _Industry_ had sailed for a far country. Little Jacob andlittle Sol had gone on that voyage, and they always raced through theirbreakfast so that they could get out on deck and see what there was tosee. Little Sol generally beat and went on deck first, but sometimeslittle Jacob was first. The reason that little Sol generally beat wasthat little Jacob had been brought up not to hurry through his meals, but to wait for the older people; and he had to wait, anyway, because hecouldn't get the second part until his father and his mother, and anycompany they had, had finished the first part. Then the first part wascarried out and the second part was brought in; and little Jacob had tosit quietly in his chair with his hands folded in his lap until it camein. But little Sol didn't bother much about those things. 

One morning little Jacob and little Sol had raced through breakfast, asthey always did, and they had finished at exactly the same time, becauselittle Jacob hurried. Then they both tried to go on deck at the sametime. They managed to go up the cabin steps together, but they couldn'tget through the door together without squeezing very tightly. And, inthat squeezing, little Jacob caught his jacket on the lock of the doorso that the jacket tore. But little Jacob didn't know it, and he kept onpushing, and at last he and little Sol went bouncing out and fellsprawling on the deck. 

Captain Solomon was sitting in the cabin, and he laughed to see them gosprawling out, but he thought that he guessed the little boys had doneenough of that racing business. For somebody would have to mend littleJacob's jacket and, besides, there was danger that little Jacob wouldforget his manners, and that would never do. Little Jacob had beautifulmanners. So Captain Solomon made up his mind that Sol would have towait until little Jacob finished his breakfast, after that, and thenthey should go up the cabin steps like little gentlemen and not push andcrowd and tear their jackets. And that would be a good thing for littleSol, too, but he wouldn't like it at first. Captain Solomon didn't carewhether he liked it or not. 

The little boys didn't know what Captain Solomon was thinking about, andthey laughed and picked themselves up and looked around. And they didn'tsee anything but water all about, and the bright sunshine, and one ortwo little hilly clouds, and all the many sails of the _Industry_. Forthey were still in the trade winds where it is generally good weather. And they saw the mate, and he was standing at the stern and lookingdown into the water behind the ship. 

"Let's see what Mr. Steele is looking at, " said little Sol. 

"All right, " said little Jacob, "let's. "

So the two little boys walked to the stern and leaned on the rail andlooked down at the water. But first little Jacob said "Good morning" tothe mate. 

"Good morning, Jacob, " said the mate. "Now, what do you see there?"

"I know, " cried little Sol. "It's a shark. "

"Oh, is it?" cried little Jacob. He was very much interested andexcited. "Where is it, Sol?"

Little Sol pointed. "Right there, " he said. "You can see his back fin, just as plain. "

And little Jacob looked again, and he saw all the little swirls andbubbles and foam that made the wake of the ship, and right in the middleof it all he saw a great three-cornered thing sticking up out of thewater. It was dark colored, and it followed after the ship as if it werefastened to it. 

"Is that his back fin?" asked little Jacob, "that three-cornered thing?I don't see the rest of him. "

"If you look hard, " said Mr. Steele, "you'll make him out. He's clearenough to me. "

[Illustration: "'RIGHT THERE, ' HE SAID, 'YOU CAN SEE HIS BACK FIN. '"]

Little Jacob looked hard and at last he saw the shark himself; but therewere so many bubbles and swirls, and the shark was colored so exactlylike the water, as he looked down into it, that it wasn't easy to seehim. Both the little boys watched him for some time without sayinganything. 

At last little Jacob sighed. "He's pretty big, " he said. "Why do yousuppose he follows the ship that way? It's just as if we were towinghim. "

"Well, " said the mate, "I never had a chance to ask any shark thatquestion--and get an answer--but I think it's to get what the cookthrows overboard. " The mate turned and looked forward. "I see the cooknow, with a bucket of scraps. You watch Mr. Shark. "

Little Jacob and little Sol both looked and they saw the cook walkingfrom the galley with his bucket. The galley is the kitchen of the ship. And he emptied the bucket over the side. Then the two little boyslooked quickly at the shark again, to see what he would do. 

They saw the shark leave his place at the stern of the _Industry_ as thethings came floating by, and they saw him turn over on his side and eatone or two of the things. He took them into his mouth slowly, as thoughhe had plenty of time; or it seemed as if he ate them slowly. Really, hedidn't. They lost sight of him, for he stayed at that place until everyscrap was gone. 

Little Jacob smiled. "He doesn't have to race through his breakfast, " hesaid, "does he, Sol? Did you see that his underneath parts were white? Iwonder why that is. I s'pose it's because anything that looks down looksinto darkness, and anything that looks up looks into lightness. Is thatwhy, Mr. Steele?"

"So that the fish wouldn't see him coming?" asked Mr. Steele. "Well, Jacob, to tell you the truth, I never thought much about it. And I don'treally know how a shark would look from underneath, in the water. Thepearl divers in India could tell you. But I guess that comes as near tothe reason as any other--near enough, anyway. I've no doubt that hiscoloring makes him very hard to see, in the water. "

"I would like to see the pearl divers, " said little Jacob, "but I s'poseI can't. And I'm rather glad the shark is gone. "

"Huh!" said little Sol. "He isn't gone. He only stopped a minute. He'llbe back. Won't he, Mr. Steele?"

Mr. Steele smiled. "There he comes, now. "

[Illustration]

And the boys looked and they saw the three-cornered fin cutting throughthe water at a great rate. The shark caught up with the ship easily andtook his old place, just astern. 

The shark stayed with the _Industry_ all of that day, and little Jacobwatched him once in a while. He thought the shark was kind of horribleand he wished that he would go away. But he didn't, that day or thatnight, or the next. And Captain Solomon didn't like it, either. 

So, when Captain Solomon saw him on the third morning, he spoke to themate. 

"Better get rid of that fellow, Mr. Steele, " he said. "Got a sharkhook?"

"Yes, sir, " answered the mate. "But I'm afraid it isn't big enough forhim. "

But Captain Solomon told him to try it, anyway. And he called some ofthe sailors and told them to rig a tackle on the end of the mainyard. That was so that it would be easy to haul the shark in, when they hookedhim. And he went down and got the shark hook. It was a great, enormousfishhook and it had about a yard of chain hitched to it, because if itwas rope that went in the shark's mouth, he might bite it off. And alarge rope ran through the blocks of the tackle, and the sailors hitchedthe end of that rope to the end of the chain. A lot of sailors took holdof the other end of the rope, and they stood with the rope in theirhands ready to run away with it, just as they did when they werehoisting a yard with a sail. 

Then the cook came with a big chunk of fat salt pork, and he put it onthe hook so that the point of the hook was all covered. And the matelooked at it, to see if it was done right, and he saw that it was. 

"Slack away on the line, " he called to the sailors. 

And they let out the rope, until the mate thought that there was enoughlet out, and then he threw the hook, that was baited with the salt pork, overboard, and it trailed out astern. 

The shark saw the pork and he left his place at the stern and went overto see about it. First he seemed to smell of it and make up his mindthat it was good to eat. Then he turned lazily over upon his side, showing his whitish belly, and opened his mouth and swallowed the pork, with the hook inside it, and nearly all of the chain. Little Jacob waswatching him, and he saw that the shark's mouth was not at the end ofhis nose, as most fishes' mouths are, but it was quite a way back fromhis snout, on the under side. And he saw his teeth quite clearly. Therewere a great many of them, and they seemed to be in rows. Little Jacobdidn't have time to count the rows, but he thought that the teeth lookedvery cruel. The shark's mouth was big enough to take in a man whole. Andthen the mate, who still had his hand on the rope, jerked it with allhis might. 

What happened then was never quite clear to little Jacob. He heard thesailors running away with their end of the rope and shouting a chantyand stamping their feet. And he saw the water alongside the ship beingall foamed up by an enormous monster that seemed large enough for awhale. Then some water came up from the ocean and hit him in the face, so that he couldn't see for a few minutes and his jacket was all wetthrough. But the noise kept on. 

When little Jacob could see again, the enormous monster was half out ofthe water and rising slowly to the yard-arm, while he made a tremendouscommotion with his tail in the water, and a sailor was just reaching outwith an axe. The sailor struck twice with the axe, but little Jacobdidn't see where. Then the shark dropped back into the ocean with agreat splash and out of sight. 

"Well!" said the mate. "He's a good one! Took a good shark hook with himand pretty near a fathom of new chain!"

And when little Jacob had got his breath back again, he ran down intothe cabin to write all about the shark in the log-book. 

And that's all. 

THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from Boston forfar countries, and she had been gone about three months. She was goingto Java, first, to get coffee and sugar and other things that they havein Java; and then she was going to Manila and then back to India andhome again. It was almost Christmas time. Little Jacob and little Solwere on board the _Industry_ on that voyage, and it seemed very strangeto them that it should be hot at Christmas time. But they were justabout at the equator, or a little bit south of it, and it is always hotthere; and besides, it is summer at Christmas time south of the equator. So little Jacob and Sol had on their lightest and coolest clothes, andthey had straw hats on; but they didn't run about and play much, it wasso hot. 

The two little boys were lying stretched out in the shadow of a greatsail, and they had their hands behind their heads, and they looked up atthe tall masts and the yards and the great white sails and once in awhile they saw a little hilly cloud, and they didn't say anything for along time. Finally little Jacob spoke to little Sol. 

"What are you thinking about, Sol?" he asked. 

"Oh, nothing, much, " answered little Sol. "I was thinking it would befun to be sitting up on the very tip top of the mainmast and letting myfeet hang down and swinging back and forth with the mast. Maybe I couldsee Java. "

Little Jacob shivered to think of sitting on top of the mast. "My, Sol!"he said. "You'd fall. There's nothing to hold on to. "

"Oh, I'm not going to try it, Jake, " said little Sol. "Father'd give itto me, if I did. You know the time I fell overboard?"

Little Jacob nodded. "Well, then, " said little Sol. "I guess a boy'd befoolish to try that twice. "

Little Jacob nodded again. "Did he thrash you, Sol?" he asked. 

Little Sol smiled. "_Didn't_ he, though?" he said. "Ever get athrashing, Jake?"

Little Jacob hesitated. "Well, " he said, slowly, "sometimes--with aslipper. "

"Huh!" said little Sol, with much scorn. "That's nothing. My fatherdon't use any slipper. "

Little Jacob thought it was time to change the subject. "What makes youthink that you could see Java from up there?"

"I don't s'pose I could, really, " answered little Sol. "But father saidthat we ought to sight it within two days. "

"To-morrow is Christmas, " remarked little Jacob, thoughtfully. "I'drather like to be at home, on Christmas. "

"Well, you can't, " said little Sol. "You're thousands of miles fromhome. I wonder what they'll have for dinner. "

"We generally have lots of things for Christmas dinner, " said littleJacob, in a stifled little voice, "goose and apple sauce, and potatoesand squash and----"

"I don't mean at home, Jake, " said little Sol, gently. "I mean here. Wealways have good things at home, too. But we haven't any goose oranything else except salt junk and plum duff. I s'pose it'll be that. "

But little Jacob didn't say anything because he couldn't speak. Hetilted his hat over his eyes and thought how nice it was at home atChristmas time, and how sorry Lois, his mother, would be that he wasn'tthere, and how sorry his little sister Lois would be. He didn't knowabout his father, Captain Jacob, but he thought that perhaps he would besorry, too; and he knew that his grandfather, Captain Jonathan, would besorry. He was very fond of his grandfather because Captain Jonathan wasalways nice and kind and gentle and he seemed to understand little boys. And, at last, little Jacob jammed his hat on straight and got up and randown into the cabin to write his mother a letter. Captain Solomon wouldleave the letter in Java for some ship to take home. When he had writtenthe letter he felt better. 

When the two little boys came out on deck the next morning, they wentforward among the sailors; and they wished each man a Merry Christmasand they gave each one some little thing that they had found. Thethings were some things that Captain Solomon had brought to give away, although he did not expect, when he brought them, to give them to thesailors. And the men seemed very much pleased, and they wished littleJacob and little Sol a Merry Christmas, too, and some of the men hadpresents for the boys. These presents were usually something that themen had whittled out of ivory or bone or ebony. And little Jacob andlittle Sol hadn't expected that the men would give them any presents, and they were delighted; and, by the time they had got through givingthe men presents their jacket pockets bulged out with all the things themen had given them. 

But one thing little Jacob didn't put in his pocket, for fear that hewould break it. That was a little model of the brig _Industry_, aboutthree inches long. The hull of the model was cut out of ebony, and themasts and spars were little ebony sticks stuck in, and the sails were ofivory, scraped thin, and the ropes were silk thread. And the sails werebulging, as if the wind was filling them and making them stand out fromthe yards. Altogether, it was a most beautiful model, and little Jacobwas so surprised and pleased that, for some time, he couldn't sayanything to the sailor who had given it to him. 

"Is this for me?" he said, at last. "For _me_?"

[Illustration: "'YES, LITTLE LAD, ' HE SAID. 'FOR YOU--IF YOU WANT IT. '"]

That sailor was an old man. The little crinkles came around his eyes ashe smiled down at little Jacob. 

"Yes, little lad, " he said. "For you--if you want it. And with a MerryChristmas!"

"Oh, " cried little Jacob, "if I want it! I think it isthe--most--beautiful--thing I ever saw. I can't thank you enough. "

You should have seen the old sailor's face when little Jacob said that. The crinkles were so deep that you could hardly have seen his eyes. 

"To see your face now is thanks enough for me, " he said. 

"But--but, " said little Jacob, "Sol hasn't got anything half so prettyas this. "

"Never you mind about Sol, " said the old man, in a whisper that Solcould hear perfectly well. "He'll be havin' a ship of his own, one o'these days soon. What does he care about models?"

And he looked at Sol and winked. And Sol straightened his shoulders andstopped looking disappointed. "That's what I will, " said Sol. 

And the boys stayed with the old sailor for a long time, and the sailorpointed to something that was blue and dim on the water, far away. 

"See that land?" he said. "That's Christmas Island on Christmasmornin'. "

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS ISLAND 1st VIEW, BEARING N BY E]

And the boys asked if they would go near the island, and he said thatthey would go pretty near. And little Jacob said that he would get somepaper and draw the island when they came near it, and he would put itin the log book. And so he did, and he made it look like the pictureshere. When little Jacob had it all written in the log-book about thepresents and about his little model of the _Industry_ and aboutChristmas Island, it was time for dinner. 

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS ISLAND, 2nd VIEW, BEARING SW]

When the little boys went in to dinner, they were both very muchsurprised; for there, on the table, was a real goose, beautifullybrowned over and smoking hot, and there was apple sauce to eat with it. And there was squash and potato and cabbage and ham and almost as manydifferent things as little Jacob would have had if he had been at home. And behind the goose stood Captain Solomon sharpening the carving knife, and he was smiling. 

Little Jacob didn't ask how he managed to have fresh goose, but heevidently wanted to; so Captain Solomon told him that the cook had keptit alive in the long boat all that long time, so as to be sure to havegoose for their Christmas dinner. The long boat was kept high up abovethe men's heads, on a sort of framework, so that little Jacob had neverseen the goose; but the cook had had a great deal of trouble to keep theboys from hearing it, and he had had to make it a secret with thesailors and sometimes he had the sailors take it down into theforecastle while little Jacob and little Sol were playing about. Theforecastle is the place where the sailors sleep, and the little boysnever went there. But little Sol rather suspected that there wassomething that the cook was hiding from them, although he had neverfound out what it was. 

And, when they were through eating their goose, they had squash pie andapple pie, two kinds, and potato pie; but they weren't quite like thepies they would have had at home because the cook didn't have any butterto make the crust with, and his lard wasn't very good because they hadbeen in the hot oceans for so long. And they had some very nice steamedpudding with raisins in it, and there were lots of raisins. 

When they were through eating their pudding and all the kinds of pies, little Jacob was filled up about to his chin, and there was just roomenough left for an apple and some nuts and raisins. And they had theapples and the nuts and raisins; all the kinds of nuts that they had athome and another kind of nut that little Jacob had never seen before. Hedidn't know whether to call it a nut or a raisin. It had a thin shelland it was nearly as big as an English walnut, but inside the shell wasa raisin; and the raisin had a single stone inside it, a little biggerthan a cherry stone. Little Jacob and little Sol thought that theseraisinuts tasted very good indeed, and they didn't care whether theywere raisins or nuts. Little Sol invented the name, raisinuts. 

[Illustration]

At last they were through dinner, and the little boys got up, veryslowly, for they were filled as full as they could hold. And theywalked slowly to the cabin steps and up the steps and out on deck. Itwas rather squally and, just as little Jacob went out of the cabin door, a great gust of wind came and took his straw hat and carried it sailingaway over the ocean. You can't stop a ship to get a straw hat, andlittle Jacob watched it go sailing away on the gust of wind and settleinto the ocean; but he was sorry, for it was the only straw hat he had, and it was too hot to wear his white beaver hat. But he thought that hewouldn't wear any hat until they got to Java and then he would getanother straw. 

When little Jacob had watched his hat out of sight, he went into thecabin again to write some more on his letter to his mother. 

And that's all. 

THE SOUNDING STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from Boston forfar countries and little Jacob and little Sol had gone in her. And shehad got to Java and anchored near the place where they got water andthey had sent some sailors ashore in boats to fill the water casks. Andthey had got the water and come back; and the boats and the water caskshad been hoisted on board, and they had hoisted the anchor and sailedaway, through the straits, for Anger. You might not be able to find thatplace on a map of Java, but that is what Captain Solomon says in hislog-book, so it must be right. 

They got to Anger the next morning, and Captain Solomon went ashore inhis boat, with sailors to row it; for he wanted to send some letters andhe wanted to find out what he would have to pay for sugar and forcoffee. He had the letters in a bag. There were three that sailors hadwritten; that doesn't seem many letters for a whole crew of sailors towrite after they have been at sea for three months, but sailors aren'tmuch at writing letters, anyway. And there were about half a dozen thatCaptain Solomon had written, and some from the mates; and there was onethat little Sol had scrawled to his mother, and there was the greatthick letter that little Jacob had written to his mother. CaptainSolomon couldn't take little Sol and little Jacob ashore with himbecause he thought he would be too busy to look after them. The_Industry_ didn't even anchor, but she sailed back and forth, in frontof the town, waiting for Captain Solomon's boat to come back. 

At last Captain Solomon had heard all the news and had sent his lettersand had found out the price of sugar and of coffee and had learned whatships were at Batavia. Batavia is a city in Java, not far from Anger, and Captain Solomon was going there on his way back. And he had gotsome fresh vegetables and some turtle and some fresh fowl of a Chinaman, and all his errands were done. So he came back to the ship and got onboard and the boat was hoisted up and more sail was set; and the_Industry_ sailed on her way through Sunda strait. Captain Solomoncalled it Sunday strait. A strait is a rather narrow passage from onesea to another. Sunda strait leads from the Indian Ocean to Java Sea;and, after that, there were some more straits leading to the China Sea. 

Late in the afternoon the wind got lighter; and as there was a strongcurrent setting towards the southwest, through the straits, theycouldn't sail as fast as the current carried them. So the _Industry_ wascarried back to Anger; but she started again very early in the morning, when there was more wind and when the tide was different. 

When little Jacob and little Sol came on deck they saw three ships, going the other way. They wondered what they were, and they asked themate. And the mate smiled and said that two of the ships were Dutch andhe supposed that they were going to Batavia. And he thought that theother ship was American and he hoped that it would take the letters theyhad left at Anger. Little Jacob hoped that it would; but little Soldidn't seem to care. And, all of that day, they watched for more ships, and they saw land, now and then, far off on the horizon. It was veryhot, for they were almost at the equator; so that even little Sol wascontented to keep still. And, towards night, they saw one of thesailors getting the lead line ready. 

The lead is just a big lump of lead, like a sinker that is used on afishing line, and it is tied to the end of a long line that has thefathoms marked on it in much the same way that the log line has theknots marked; but the marks on the lead line are really six feet apart. And the lead itself has the lower end just a little bit hollowed. Thesailor who was getting it ready first made sure that the line was allclear, without any knots or kinks in it. And, when he had seen that theline was all right, he took up the lead and smeared some grease on thebottom of it. The sailor was the old man who had given little Jacob themodel of the brig. 

Little Jacob was surprised. "What is that?" he asked. "Is it grease?"

The sailor was amused. "It's grease, " he said, "sure enough. "

"And what is it for?" asked little Jacob again. "I hope you don't mindtelling me. "

"No, lad, " said the sailor. "Be sure I'll tell you. It's to bring upsome of the bottom so's the cap'n can tell where we are. "

Little Jacob didn't understand. "I don't see, " he said, "how CaptainSolomon can tell where we are, that way. "

The sailor laughed. "Well, no, " he said. "I s'pose you don't. Well, it'sthis way. The bottom of the sea is different in different places. Insome parts it's mud and in other parts it's gray sand and in othersit's black sand and in others yet it's yellow sand, and so on. In thedeep oceans it's different yet, but no lead will reach it. And everygood sailor man, such as Cap'n Solomon is, should know the bottom he'llfind on the course he sails. And when I heave this lead, it tells himhow much water he's got under him and the kind of bottom, for the leadbrings up a little of the mud or the sand that sticks to the grease. That's how it is. "

Little Jacob thought that he understood. "And will you heave the leadnow?" he asked. 

"I heave the lead when I'm ordered to, " said the old man. "But I'mthinking the cap'n won't want it hove till after dark. There's nolights, hereabouts, you see. Lighthouses, " he added, seeing that littleJacob didn't know what he meant. 

"Oh, " said little Jacob. And he went off to find Captain Solomon and toask him if he might stay up that night, until they hove the lead. Heaving the lead is called sounding. And Captain Solomon laughed andsaid that he guessed so. 

So little Jacob didn't go to bed so early as he generally did, but hestayed up to see them heave the lead. And, about nine o'clock, CaptainSolomon called little Jacob and little Sol and told them that they hadbetter be ready, for he was just going to begin taking soundings. So thetwo boys went to look for the sailor with the lead line. 

They found him standing by the rail just where the ship was widest, andby his side was a lantern, lighted. The mate had another lantern, andthe light from those two lanterns was the only light that they couldsee. And, just as the boys came up, the sailor began to swing the leadto and fro. 

[Illustration]

He swung it farther and farther, each time, like a pendulum to a clock. And, when it was swinging pretty far, he let the line go, so that theheavy lead went ahead of the ship and fell into the water. As soon as heheard it strike the water, the sailor grabbed for the line quickly, andhe caught it, but he let it slip through his hand. And he felt the leadstrike the bottom. By the time the lead had struck the bottom, the shiphad almost caught up to the place where it had gone into the water, sothat the line was straight up and down. 

The sailor began to pull it in, feeling, with his fingers, for the wetpart. When he had come to that, he held it in the light of the lanternfor a moment. 

"Ten fathom, " he called. Then he pulled the lead up. 

The mate took it and looked at the part that had been greased. "Mud, " hesaid; and he wiped it off on his finger and showed it to CaptainSolomon. 

"All right, " said Captain Solomon, when he had looked at the mud. "Better keep the lead going for a while. "

So the sailor wiped the bottom of the lead clean, and smeared it withgrease again. Little Jacob watched him swing it and heave it and pull itin. He wondered whether it was hard or easy to do what the sailor did;whether he could do it when he grew up. The great lead would be too muchfor a little boy, he knew. But it looked easy. 

"Ten and a half, " called the sailor, "and mud. I could tell by the feelof it. "

"Yes, mud, " said the mate, looking at the bottom of the lead. 

The lead was kept going, every half hour or so, all night. And, towardssunrise, they got twenty fathoms, and the lead brought up grains ofblack sand and grains of yellow sand, and they put away the lead line. 

But little Jacob didn't know about that, for he was sound asleep in hisbunk. 

And that's all. 

THE TEAK-WOOD STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalks were much worn. 

Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob owned the wharf and all the shipsthat sailed from it. The brig _Industry_ was one of the ships that usedto sail from that wharf, and after Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacobmoved to Boston she sailed from a wharf in Boston. And she had sailedfrom the wharf in Boston on a voyage to the far country, and littleJacob and little Sol had gone in her. And she had sailed through thegreat ocean and past the country where the monkeys lived and throughanother ocean to India, and she had anchored in a wide river. And manylittle boats came off to her from a city that there was on the shore ofthe river, and they began to take out of the _Industry_ all the thingsshe had brought to that country. 

Little Jacob and little Sol were as quiet as little boys could beexpected to be, for they knew that Captain Solomon was very busy atfirst. But, at last, the things were all out of the _Industry_; andCaptain Solomon had to go ashore to buy things for the ship to take homeagain. So he had the sailors let down a boat, and he looked around forthe boys. And they were so close behind him that he didn't see themuntil little Sol touched him. 

"Hello, boys!" cried Captain Solomon. "Want to go ashore with me?"

"Yes, sir, " called out little Jacob and little Sol, together, so that itsounded as if there was only one boy. 

"Well, hop in, then, " said Captain Solomon. 

And little Sol hopped in, and little Jacob hopped in; and CaptainSolomon got in, and the sailors rowed them ashore. And they got out ofthe boat upon some wide stone steps that went down to the water, and theboys were very glad, for it was the first time that they had set footupon the ground for a long time. And little Jacob was surprised to findthat the ground seemed to be waving around just like the deck of theship, so that he couldn't walk very well. And he spoke of it to littleSol, and Captain Solomon heard him, and he gave a great laugh. 

"So it does, " Captain Solomon said. "So it does. And so it will for thenext three days, Jacob, if I'm not mistaken. It's queer ground, Jacob, isn't it, to be waving around so? Must be an earthquake. "

And little Jacob looked up at Captain Solomon to see whether he wasjoking or not. For Captain Solomon was very apt to joke, but youcouldn't tell whether he was or not unless you looked at him, and youcouldn't tell, even then, unless you knew him pretty well. 

And little Jacob decided that Captain Solomon was joking, so he smiled. "Yes, sir, " he said. "It must be an earthquake. We were very lucky, weren't we, to be just in time for an earthquake?"

It was Captain Solomon's turn to look at little Jacob to see what hemeant. 

"Ha! Ha! Very lucky, indeed, Jacob, " said Captain Solomon. "We're luckydogs, Jacob. "

And little Sol didn't say anything, but only grinned; and he could dothat pretty well. And they went, by queer streets, to the office ofCaptain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's agent, who sold the things forthem. And after that they went about among the shops and saw all thethings that the men had to sell, and Captain Solomon went with them. Andthe men were very polite to Captain Solomon because they thought hemight buy some of their things, but he didn't. And so they did all thatday, and, late in the afternoon, they were rowed back to the ship. Little Jacob and little Sol were very tired, and went to sleep rightafter supper. 

The next morning the boat was waiting for them, and in it were bundlesfor little Jacob and little Sol. And, after breakfast, they were rowedashore again to the stone steps. And, at the head of the steps, twobullock carts were waiting for them. Little Jacob was surprised, and heasked Captain Solomon if they were going to see the elephants that hisgrandfather had spoken of. And Captain Solomon said that they were goingto that place, but he didn't know whether the elephants that CaptainJonathan had spoken of had been obliging enough to wait thirty years ornot. And little Jacob smiled and got into the bullock cart. 

The bullocks went very slowly indeed; and the little boys saw thevillages that they passed through on the way, and they saw the womenwashing the clothes in the water of the river, and they saw thecrocodiles that looked like so many old logs. And, in time, the bullocksgot to the place where the elephants were. It was late one afternoonthat they got there, so that Captain Solomon thought that they wouldn'tgo to see the elephants that night. And, just as Captain Solomon saidthat, they heard a great gong ring. And Captain Solomon said that itwouldn't be any use to go to see them then, anyway, for the elephantsstopped work when that gong rang, and nobody could get them to doanything after that. And the little boys thought that was queer. 

So, early the next morning, they went to the elephant place. It was agreat big place, and a high, strong fence was around it on three sides, and on the fourth side was the river. And, next to the river, weregreat piles of teak-wood logs, and the logs were piled very nicely andevenly, so that the piles wouldn't fall down. And, far off at the backof the great yard, next to the forest, were a lot of the logs which werenot piled, but were just as they had been dumped there, pell-mell, whenthey had been brought in from the forest. The logs that were all piledup nicely were to be sent down the river. 

Little Jacob and little Sol had just time to see all that, when thegreat gong rang. Then the elephants began to come out of a big shed thatwas in the back of the yard, and the little boys saw that some of theelephants had mahouts, or drivers, on them but the most of them didn'thave any drivers. And the mahouts sat on the necks of their elephants, just back of the heads, and each mahout had an elephant-goad, somethinglike an ox-goad, only that it was shorter and the end that was sharp wasbent around so that it was something like the claws of a hammer, but theclaws were sharp. 

And the elephants that knew their business walked slowly over to thelogs that were piled pell-mell, and they made the elephants that didn'tknow their business go there too; and if any elephant, that didn't know, tried to go another way, the old elephants would butt him and jab himwith their tusks. And then there was great squealing and noise. And whenthe elephants got to the logs, each one knelt down and put his tusksunder a log and curled his trunk over and around it, and then he got upand walked slowly to the place where the logs were piled so nicely. Andhe put his log on the pile so that it wouldn't fall down, and when thepile was so high that he couldn't reach then he began to make a newpile. But some of the elephants didn't have any tusks and they justcurled their trunks around the logs and carried them that way. 

Little Jacob and little Sol were very much interested in watching theelephants and in seeing how wise they were; for they piled the logs justas well as if a man had told them where to put each one. And CaptainSolomon said that they piled the logs better than any man there couldhave done it. And little Jacob caught sight of one elephant that had hisears torn and had only one tusk. 

When he caught sight of that elephant, little Jacob called out. "Look, Captain Solomon!" he cried. "See! There is the elephant that grandfathertold about, that will let little boys ride him. "

And the elephant was pretty near and he heard little Jacob, but hecouldn't understand what he said, for those elephants only understandthe language that they speak in India. But the old elephant stopped andturned his head as far as he could, which wasn't very far, for elephantshaven't any neck worth mentioning, so he had to turn his whole bodybefore he could see the little boys. And, when he saw them, he began towalk up to the place where they were. And little Jacob was a little bitscared, for the elephant was very big and he didn't know what he mightdo. But little Jacob didn't run or look scared, and little Sol wasn'tfrightened at all. 

And, when the old elephant had got near the little boys, he stopped andstretched out his trunk toward them. And little Sol gave him a lump ofsugar that he had in his pocket, and the elephant ate the sugar andstretched out his trunk again, but he didn't move. 

"I know what he wants, " cried little Jacob. And he got up from the logwhere he was sitting, and raised his arms, and the old elephant curledhis trunk about little Jacob and put him up high on his back, verygently. And little Jacob grabbed hold of a sort of harness that theelephant had on, and he laughed. Then the elephant stretched out histrunk for little Sol and put him up behind little Jacob. And little Solheld on to the harness, too. 

Captain Solomon didn't know what to do while the elephant was puttingthe little boys up on his back, but then he made up his mind that theboys were well enough off; and the old elephant walked away, verycarefully, and he walked all around the great yard with the boys on hisback. And the boys laughed and said that it was fun. But Captain Solomoncalled to them to hold on tight. And they held on tight. And when theyhad been all around the great yard, the old elephant came back to theplace where Captain Solomon was sitting. And he reached up with histrunk and took the boys down, first little Sol and then little Jacob, and he set them down on the ground very carefully. And the boys gavehim some more sugar and stroked his trunk, and then he went away to hislog piling again. 

[Illustration: "HE WALKED ALL AROUND THE GREAT YARD WITH THE BOYS ON HISBACK. "]

And when they had been watching a long while, the gong rang. And theelephants all stopped their work at once and went into the shed. Andthat amused the boys very much, and the gong reminded them that theywere very hungry, so they went away to get their dinner. And, afterdinner, they watched the elephants again all the long afternoon, and bythat time they were tired of watching elephants. 

So, the next morning, they got into the bullock carts again, and theywent back to the ship. And the boat was waiting for them at the stonesteps, and the sailors rowed them to the _Industry_. And they were verytired and glad to get back, and they went to bed right after supper. 

And that's all. 

THE STOWAWAY STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalks were much worn. 

That wharf and all the ships that sailed from it belonged to CaptainJonathan and Captain Jacob; and after they had moved their office toBoston the ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. And once, in the longago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from the wharf in Boston, and shehad got to that far country and all the things that she had broughtthere had been taken out of her and sold. And Captain Solomon had boughtthe things that she would carry back to Boston, but they were not loadedon the _Industry_ yet. And Captain Solomon had gone off with littleJacob and little Sol to see some elephants, for he thought the matecould attend to loading the ship. 

After Captain Solomon had gone off, the sailors who had rowed him ashorestood there for a few minutes looking after the dust that the bullockskicked up, and then they turned to get into the boat again. And one ofthe sailors, who was named Ephraim, saw a man coming toward them, and heknew the man, for the man was a sailor, too, and he and Ephraim hadsailed together a long while before, but not in the _Industry_. So hewaited for the man to come, and the man and Ephraim were glad to seeeach other and Ephraim asked him where he came from and what ship he wason. For no other ship was in the river at that time. 

Then the man said that he had sailed in a ship from England, but theship had gone off without him while he was ashore; and he wanted to getback to Boston, for he hadn't been there for several years. And he askedEphraim if there was a chance to be a sailor on the _Industry_. ButEphraim said that they had a full crew and there wasn't any chance, forthe old man was very strict. He called Captain Solomon the old man, buthe wasn't an old man at all, for he wasn't quite forty years old; butsailors always call the captain the old man. And Ephraim was afraid ofCaptain Solomon, but he needn't have been afraid, for Captain Solomonwas a kind man, although he was rather gruff and stern to the sailors. 

And so Ephraim advised the man to try to stow himself away on the_Industry_ until she was clear of the land and on blue water, and thento come out and see what would happen. For he knew that Captain Solomonwouldn't go back just to land the man, and he couldn't throw himoverboard. And the man said that he would do that, and he thought heshould be able to stow away when the ship was loading, but he would haveto depend upon Ephraim to feed him for a few days. And Ephraim said thathe would, and the man went away and the sailors rowed the boat back tothe _Industry_. 

So the sailors began to load the ship with all the things that CaptainSolomon had bought, and many little boats began to go back and forth andthere was a good deal of confusion. And in the confusion of the loadingthe man managed to stow himself away on the _Industry_; and he was inthe hold of the ship, as far forward as he could get, so that Ephraimcould bring him food and water without much trouble. And the sailors gotall the things aboard, and Captain Solomon came back with little Jacoband little Sol. And they got the things to eat on board, and the waterthat they would drink, and when everything was ready they hoisted up theanchor from the bottom of the river, and they hoisted the sails, andthey sailed away down the river and out into the great ocean. And on thesecond day out, the stowaway came out and worked with the other sailors. 

And Captain Solomon was on the quarter deck, looking out over the oceanand at the ship and at the sailors, and he saw the stowaway. 

[Illustration: "HE WAS IN THE HOLD OF THE SHIP"]

"Who is that man and where did he come from?" he said to the mate. 

And the mate looked and saw the man, and he didn't know. "I'm sure Idon't know, sir, " answered the mate. 

"Call him up, " said Captain Solomon. 

So the mate called him and he came and stood at the foot of the stepsthat led to the quarter deck, and Captain Solomon stood at the head ofthe steps with his hand upon the railing. And the man stood first uponone foot and then upon the other and he looked very uncomfortable. 

"Aye, aye, sir, " said the man; and he touched his cap. 

And Captain Solomon didn't say anything for a long time, but he lookedthe man over from head to foot, and he looked very fierce and stern, sothat the man was more uncomfortable than ever. And little Jacob andlittle Sol stood just behind Captain Solomon. 

"Who are you, and where did you come from?" asked Captain Solomon. "Givean account of yourself. "

Then the man began to tell that he was a sailor and had been a sailorfor many years. And he had shipped, last on an English vessel bound toIndia, and she had got there all right, but had sailed away without himwhile he was ashore on leave. 

Captain Solomon had to smile at that, though he didn't mean to. And theman went on to say that he wanted to get a passage to Boston and hewould have been glad to ship as one of the crew, but he understood thatthe ship had a full crew and that the captain didn't want any moresailors, and so he had stowed away. But he was an able seaman and wouldbe only too grateful for a chance to work with the other sailors ifCaptain Solomon pleased, sir. 

Then Captain Solomon was very angry, and asked how he heard that he hada full crew and didn't want any more sailors; and who told him that anable seaman who wanted to get back to Boston couldn't get a passage onthat ship. And the man wouldn't tell, but Captain Solomon saw thatEphraim looked very uneasy, so he knew it was Ephraim. And he calledEphraim, and blew him up sky high, and he said that he had a good mindto put him and the stowaway both on bread and water for a month. Whenlittle Jacob heard Captain Solomon say that, he stepped forward tospeak, for he couldn't bear to think that men should be put on bread andwater for a month just for that. But little Sol gave him a nudge andwhispered to him not to say anything, for he knew well enough that hisfather hadn't any idea of doing it. 

And Ephraim and the stowaway both turned pale and looked as if they weregoing to be seasick, but they weren't. And after everybody had stoodthere without speaking for a good while, Captain Solomon spoke to thewhole crew, who had all come near, and told them that he didn't want anysuch actions on his ship again; and if they ever heard of any such case, he wanted them to come right to him, and he would inquire into it. Forhe didn't want them to think that he would ever refuse a passage home toa good sailor. And he told Ephraim and the stowaway that he would thinkabout putting them on bread and water, but he wouldn't do it yet. And ifthe stowaway did his duty well and proved himself an able seaman hewould try to get pay for him when he got back to Boston and saw hisowners. But if the man wasn't what he said he was, or didn't attend tohis duty, he would be put on bread and water, as sure as his own namewas Solomon, and so would Ephraim. 

Then the sailors all went about their business, and Captain Solomon blewup the mate for letting a man stow away on the _Industry_. And whenCaptain Solomon had blown everybody up that he could, he felt verypleasant indeed, and he played with little Sol and little Jacob. 

And that's all. 

THE ALBATROSS STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once, in the long ago, little Jacob and little Sol had gone in the brig_Industry_ on a voyage to far countries; and they had been to thecountries and had sailed again for home, but they had not got out of thewarm oceans. And one morning little Jacob and little Sol came on decktogether. They didn't race through their breakfast as they had beenused to doing, because Captain Solomon had put a stop to that. And, assoon as they got on deck, they looked all around to see what was up thatmorning. Far away they saw the upper sails of a ship that was going thesame way they were, but they didn't see anything else except the bluewater, although they looked very carefully out ahead and on both sides. But, right astern of the ship, and pretty near, was a great, enormousbird. 

The bird was so near that the little boys could see it very well, andthey could see what color it was, and the shape of its bill, but theycouldn't see its back nor the top of its head, because the bird wasabove them. If they had climbed up on the mast they could have seen itsback, but they didn't think of that then. The bird was all white, sofar as they could see, and it had a bill that was rather long andstraight, and was hooked at the end. And the bird just sailed along andwaved a little, up and down, but it didn't move its wings, so far as theboys could see, and they watched it for a long time. 

[Illustration]

Its wings were enormous. Little Sol thought they were almost as long asthe main-top-gallant yard if you could measure them spread out, as thebird was sailing. And little Jacob looked very wise and he said that hedidn't know how long the main-top-gallant yard was, but he should thinkthey might measure two fathom and a half from tip to tip. And littleJacob felt rather proud when he had said that, because he had guessed infathoms. 

Little Sol looked rather scornful and said "Huh!" And then little Jacobasked him what kind of a bird it was, and little Sol didn't know. Thenlittle Jacob said "Huh!" So they went to ask Mr. Steele or CaptainSolomon. Captain Solomon was standing right behind them, and he wassmiling because he had heard what the boys said. And he said that thebird was an albatross, and that little Jacob was pretty nearly rightabout the length of its wings. Little Sol was taken down a peg anddidn't say anything. 

Then Captain Solomon went on to say that albatrosses often followedships for days together, and the sailors never could see that they hadto move their wings, but they sailed along just as fast as the shipsailed. He had seen lots of them in his time, but he had never seen themdo anything else but sail, just as that one was doing then. And how theymanaged it, he didn't know, and nobody else knew, so far as he had everheard. 

Then little Sol asked what the bird was following the ship for. AndCaptain Solomon said that he supposed that the albatross was followingthe ship to get the scraps that the cook threw overboard. At least, hedidn't know any other reason, and the albatross took the scraps, anyway. They were like sharks in that way. 

Then little Sol asked him if they couldn't catch the albatross with ahook and a piece of pork, as they had caught the shark. And CaptainSolomon said that they could, but that Sol had better not try it, if heknew what was good for him; for the sailors thought that it alwaysbrought the worst kind of luck to a ship to kill an albatross, and hedidn't know but they were right. And little Jacob was glad CaptainSolomon said that, for he didn't want the albatross killed, but he wouldrather watch it sailing along with the ship. 

[Illustration]

So nobody tried to do any harm to the albatross, but the men were allglad that it was there. And the little boys watched it almost all ofthat day. And the next day it was there, and they watched it, and theywatched it the day after the next, too; but the morning after that itwasn't there. 

Little Jacob was sorry that it had gone, and the sailors were sorry, andthey said that there would be a change of weather. And little Jacob wentdown into the cabin to write all about the albatross in the log-book andto see the barometer, to see whether it said that the weather wouldchange. The barometer was what Captain Solomon called "the glass, " andpeople could tell, by looking at it, whether it was going to be stormyor not. 

And that's all. 

THE DERELICT STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's, and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ was tied up at a wharf inBoston. The wharf was much longer than any wharf in Boston is now, forthey have filled up the dock that was there with stones and dirt, andthey have put more stones and dirt on the top of the old wharf and underit, and they have built a street there, so that the wharf is not half solong as it used to be. And Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob had theiroffice on India Street, not very far from the head of the wharf, as itused to be, so that they could go to their ships easily and the captainscould go to them. 

The _Industry_ had aboard all the things that the sailors would eat andthe water that they would drink; and the cargo was all stowed, and thesailors were all on the ship and the sails were loosed. And CaptainSolomon came from the office of Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob, andhe walked down the wharf and he went aboard the ship. Then the sailorscast off the ropes that had held her, and they hoisted the sails andsailed away. They sailed out of the harbor and past the islands and intothe bay and then into the great ocean, and Boston was left far astern. 

And, when they had been gone from Boston nearly a week, the sailorsfixed the sails so that the wind would blow on them the right way, andthen they didn't have to change them for a long time, for they were inthe part of the ocean that the trade winds blow over. In this part ofthe ocean the winds blow nearly always from about north-east, so thatthey are fair winds for a ship that is going south. That is one reasonwhy ships don't always go the way that you would think would be theshortest, for it may be that, by going a way that is a little longer, they will be helped so much by the winds that they will get to the placewhere they are going sooner than if they went a shorter way. 

And there is another reason why ships do not always go the shortest way. In some parts of the ocean the ocean water is moving in one directionand in other parts of the ocean the water is moving in anotherdirection. So, if a captain knows about these ocean currents, he cansail in that part of the ocean where the water is moving in thedirection that he wants to go, and the ocean and the winds will bothhelp the ship. Every captain of a ship knows about these ocean currentsand these winds, and chooses the part of the ocean where they will helphis ship along. Captain Solomon knew all about them. 

[Illustration: "CAPTAIN SOLOMON . . . WAS WATCHING THE MOON"]

So the _Industry_ sailed along, and she had got almost to the placewhere she would be past the trade winds; and it had got to be theevening of that day, and the sun had set a long time, but the moonhad just risen. And Captain Solomon was standing by the rail, and he waswatching the moon and the reflection of the moonlight on the water, andhe was thinking that he wished the _Industry_ could sail right up thatbroad path of moonlight forever; for it was very beautiful. CaptainSolomon had such thoughts sometimes, but he didn't tell anybody aboutthem, for they would think he was crazy, and the mates and the sailorswouldn't like to sail in any ship that he was the captain of. And whilehe was thinking these thoughts he was startled by the cry of the lookoutwho was on the forecastle near the bow. 

"Hard a-port! Hard a-port!"

And Captain Solomon gave one great jump for the wheel. "Hard a-port, you lubber!" he cried. "Can't you hear?"

And he grabbed the wheel and whirled it over, and the ship swung off, but she didn't swing very quickly, for the _Industry_ wasn't very quickat minding her helm. But she did mind it in time, and just as she swungoff she shot past something floating. And Captain Solomon looked and hesaw that the floating thing was the hull of a great ship. The masts wereall gone close to the deck and the hulk barely showed above the water, so that the waves washed over it, although there wasn't much of a seaand the waves weren't high at all. And when he saw that they were safelypast the wreck, he turned the wheel the other way, and brought the_Industry_ back again, and he had the sailors change some of the sailsso that she wouldn't go ahead. 

Then he called the sailor who had been on the forecastle, looking out, and he gave that sailor a blowing up, and he was very angry and he blewthe man sky-high. He said that it was nothing but luck that they weren'tall sent to the bottom, for the _Industry_ was heading straight for thefloating hulk, and if they had struck it, their chances wouldn't havebeen worth one of his grandmother's cookies. And he said some otherthings; and the sailor didn't answer back, for it is not a good plan toanswer back to the captain, especially if that captain was CaptainSolomon and was angry. But he seemed ashamed and slunk back mutteringthat he wasn't blind and he was keeping as good a lookout as could beexpected, and nobody could have imagined that there would be that oldhulk right in their course, anyway. But Captain Solomon didn't hear him, which was lucky for him. 

Then Captain Solomon ordered the mate to have out a boat and go and seewhat the hulk was, and whether, by chance, there was anybody aboard ofit, or anything to tell when she had been abandoned. And he told themate to take with him a good supply of oil and some oakum and to setfire to the wreck as soon as he was through with her. And the mate hadthe sailors get out the boat, and he took the oakum and a big bucket ofoil, and he was rowed away to the wreck, that was about a quarter of amile away by that time and shining in the moonlight. And CaptainSolomon saw the boat come near the wreck and make fast under her stern, and he saw the mate go on board. 

The mate went a little way down the cabin stairs, but he couldn't go allthe way down because the cabin was full of water that washed to and froas the hulk rolled in the ocean. And nobody was there. And the matelooked everywhere that he could go, and he found nobody. He couldn'tlook into the cook's galley, because the galley had been washedoverboard; but he looked into the forecastle, and that had water init, too, washing to and fro over the floor. But he saw that the clothesof the sailors were all gone except one thing which was washing about inthe water on the floor, that looked as if it had been there a longtime, and he couldn't make out what it was. 

So he went back to the stern and asked the sailors if they could makeout the name or the port of the ship on the stern; for every ship hasits name and the name of the city where it belongs painted on the stern. And the sailors said that there wasn't enough of the name left to tellwhat it was, but it seemed to be a French name. So the mate went backand he put three piles of oakum, one up in the bow, and one in thestern, and one half way between the two. And he soaked the oakum withoil and he poured oil on everything that was dry, and he set fire fromthe lantern which he carried. Then he hurried to get off and into theboat, and the sailors cast off. And, before they got off, the mate sawthat there was seaweed high up on the hulk, which showed that she haddrifted about, as she was, for a long time. And the fire blazed up, andthey hurried to get away from the wreck. 

[Illustration]

The fire blazed up, higher and higher, as the boat went back to the_Industry_, so that it was roaring by the time the sailors climbedaboard. And they hoisted the boat up, and put it in its place, andCaptain Solomon had the sailors change the sails so that the ship wouldgo ahead on her course. And the mate was on the quarter deck, tellingCaptain Solomon what he had seen. When the mate had got through CaptainSolomon thought for a long time. 

"That's the Frenchman that was abandoned off Hatteras more'n a yearago, " said Captain Solomon at last. "They thought she was sinking. Shemust have been carried by the currents up towards Norway, maybe, andthen down past the west coast of France and Spain. I've heard ofderelicts doing that, but I've never seen it before. "

And the mate didn't say anything, but they watched the wreck burning. Itburned fiercely, but the flames didn't blaze very high, for she hadn'tany masts nor any rigging. And the light of the fire made the moonlightlook pale and white. And they watched her getting farther and fartheraway as the _Industry_ sailed on her course. 

"I hope, " said Captain Solomon, "that there's something aboard of her tosink her. "

And just as he said that they saw the light of the fire go out suddenly, and where it had been there was nothing but some smoke in the air andthe moon was shining brightly all around. 

And that's all. 

THE LIGHTHOUSE STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once the brig _Industry_ was coming back from far countries to thatwharf in Boston, and little Jacob and little Sol were on her. And, whenshe was nearly in sight of the end of Cape Cod, a great storm came up, and the wind blew like Sam Hill. It blew harder than it had blown at anytime while the _Industry_ was sailing over the wide ocean to the farcountries and back again. So, at last, Captain Solomon had to turn heraround and run for it. But he ran as slow as he could, for he wanted toget to Boston; and he growled and grumbled all the time because he hadto go the way he didn't want to. 

Little Jacob had been feeling rather excited and very glad because hewas so nearly home again. But, when the _Industry_ turned around andsailed away from Boston, he didn't feel glad any more, but he feltrather mournful. And he was just a little bit frightened at the greatwind and at the great waves; for Captain Solomon hadn't turned arounduntil he was obliged to, and that was the last minute that it was safeto keep on. It was getting dark, and Captain Solomon thought it would bea pity to run the risk of getting wrecked on the Cape when the brighad gone all the way to Manila and back safely. So little Jacob creptinto his bunk and held on tight, because the ship was pitching androlling so much, and he tried to go to sleep. At last he went to sleep;but he had horrid dreams. 

[Illustration: "AT LAST HE WENT TO SLEEP"]

Captain Solomon was on deck all that night, and he had on his oilskinsand he was sopping wet outside the oilskins, but inside them he was dryas a bone; for oilskins keep the water out beautifully. And the spraywas flying high above the rail and, once in a while, the top of a wavewould come aboard in solid green water. But Captain Solomon didn't mindthe water. He was only very angry at having to sail away from Boston. 

The storm kept on for nearly three days and little Jacob was prettymiserable but little Sol enjoyed it. Little Sol wasn't so anxious to gethome as little Jacob was. And, at last, one morning when little Jacobwoke he didn't feel the ship pitching as she had been, and he wassurprised to find that he was a little bit excited once more. And hewent on deck as soon as he could, and he found that the wind was stillblowing pretty hard but not so hard as it had been blowing, and the shipwas headed for Boston again. And all the sailors looked cheerful. AndCaptain Solomon was the most cheerful of all, although he needed somesleep. 

"Well, Jacob, " he said, "we're headed for home again. I guess you'reglad. "

"Yes, sir, " said little Jacob, smiling, "I am glad. When shall we getthere?"

"If this breeze holds, " said Captain Solomon, "we'll get in before darkto-night. But I'm afraid it won't hold. "

"Oh, " cried little Jacob, "I _hope_ it will. "

"So do I, Jacob, " said Captain Solomon. "We'll see. "

But the wind got less and less. They passed Provincetown, on Cape Cod, alittle while after Captain Solomon and little Jacob and little Sol hadfinished their dinner, and Jacob felt hopeful. But the _Industry_ keptgoing slower as the wind died down, and Jacob's heart kept going downand down. But he watched, to see if he could see Boston. And, at last, it was almost dark and he hadn't sighted Boston, and his heart wasalmost down in his boots. He thought that he saw some land away off onthe western horizon, but he couldn't be sure whether he did or not, forit was only twilight and the western horizon was all dim and misty. And, suddenly, a little friendly star shone out, just where he was looking. 

"Oh, " he cried, "what is that star? It just came. "

Captain Solomon was standing near him, and he smiled at little Jacob'squestion. 

"That star, Jacob, " he said, "is Boston light. We can't get in to-night, but we'll go a little nearer and we'll stand back and forth untildaylight. Then we'll go in. But we sha'n't be there to breakfast. "

Little Jacob gave a long, shivering sigh. "Well, " he said, "I supposeyou can't go in to-night. That light is a long way off, isn't it?"

"Yes, " said Captain Solomon, "it's a long way off. And, besides, thewind is dying out. "

Little Jacob didn't say anything for some time. 

"The light-keeper must have to stay up all night, " he said, then, "tosee that his light doesn't go out. "

"Yes, Jacob, " answered Captain Solomon, "he stays up all night, takingcare of you and me. Or he looks out for his end of it. There are two orthree of them--the light-keepers. And, in the daytime, he sees that hislamps are filled and his wicks trimmed and his brasses bright and hisglasses polished. When night comes he lights his lamp, and he looks atit every little while to make sure that it is burning all right. If itwasn't, there might be a wreck. "

[Illustration]

Little Jacob stood and watched the light for a long time without sayinganything. Captain Solomon stood and watched it, too. 

"That is a very friendly light, " said little Jacob, at last, drawing along breath and smiling at the light. Captain Solomon couldn't see thesmile, because it was dark; but he heard it in little Jacob's voice. 

"It is, Jacob, " said Captain Solomon, "a very friendly light. "

"I guess it's my bed-time, " said little Jacob. "Good-night, captain. "

"Good-night, Jacob, " said Captain Solomon. "By the time you're up, inthe morning, we'll be almost in. "

And little Jacob laughed happily and went down to bed. 

And that's all. 

THE RUNAWAY STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The brig _Industry_ was one of the ships that used to sail from thatwharf and Captain Solomon was her captain for many years. But, after hehad been sailing to far countries for a long time, he thought it wouldbe nice to stop going to sea, for he found that what he wanted was afarm where he could settle down and stay in one place. And, besides, hehad three sons; and he didn't want his three sons to go to sea becausehe knew what a hard life it was. 

Little Sol was the oldest of his three sons, and he had been one voyageto far countries. Captain Solomon took him, thinking that the voyagewould show him how much better it was to stay ashore and be a farmerthan to go to sea and be a captain and have to stand all sorts of stormsand perhaps be wrecked. But the voyage to those far countries hadn'tmade Sol think what Captain Solomon had hoped it would make him think, but it had only made him want to go to sea all the more. Little Solwasn't little any longer, but he had got to be about sixteen years old. And Captain Solomon's youngest son was the one that was, afterwards, Uncle John and the father of little John, that it tells about in theFarm Stories. And what was the name of the middle son of Captain SolomonI have forgotten. Perhaps it was Seth. 

[Illustration]

So Captain Solomon bought the farm that he wanted. It was a beautifulfarm, with a river running through it, and a great pond in it, and youwould have thought that it would have suited Sol exactly. But it didn't. For the one thing that Sol wanted, and that all these beautiful things, the river and the great pond, and the hills and the woods, wouldn't makeup for, was the ocean. The farm was twenty miles from the ocean. Solwould have given anything if he could just _hear_ the ocean. Where hehad lived he could hear it all the time, sometimes loud and sometimessoft. It put him to sleep many and many a night, that sound of the seaas it broke on the shore. And he wanted it so badly that he was almostsick, but his father wouldn't let him go to sea, and he wouldn't evenlet him go to Wellfleet to visit his cousins; for he was very muchafraid that Sol wouldn't come home again, but would go off to sea. Andat last Sol couldn't stand it any longer. He felt sick all the time andhe couldn't sleep and he just hated that farm. So he made up his mindthat he would have to run away from home. 

It was on his sixteenth birthday that he made up his mind to run awayfrom home. Captain Solomon was a kind father, but he had been a captainfor such a long time that he wanted to run his family and his farm justlike a ship and to have everybody do just exactly as he said and ask noquestions; and, when anybody didn't seem to want to do just as he said, but began to ask questions and argue, he got very angry. Sol was verysorry to leave his mother, but there was nobody else except his twobrothers. And he was very sure that Seth would run away to sea when hegot old enough, unless Captain Solomon let him go. But, long before itcame to be Seth's time, Captain Solomon had learned better. And John, atthat time, was a little boy. 

So Sol made his plans. And, when the time came, he left a letter to hisfather. The letter was scribbled on a leaf that Sol tore out of a book, and it was very short, for Sol didn't like to write letters. The lettersaid that he just _had_ to go to sea, and that he hoped that his fatherwouldn't blame him, and that he would come back some day when he had gotto be a mate or a captain. 

Then there was a letter to his mother. It was longer than the letter tohis father and in it Sol said that he was just sick for the sea andthat, if he stayed on the farm, he knew he should get sicker and die. The farm was a beautiful farm, but farms were not for him for many yearsyet. He would rather plough the ocean than plough the earth. Sol wasrather proud when he wrote that about ploughing the ocean, for hethought it sounded rather well when he read the letter over. And hesubscribed himself, with a great deal of love, her loving son. 

Then Sol made a bundle of the clothes he thought he would need, but thebundle was a small one, for he didn't think that he would need manyclothes. And, when it got late that night, and everything was quietabout the house and even his brothers, Seth and John, were sound asleep, Sol opened the window and threw his bundle out. Then he got out and sliddown the rain spout. The rain spout made a good deal of noise, but itwas wooden and not made of tin, so it didn't make as much noise as arain spout would make now. Sol was afraid that his father would hear thenoise and wake up, so he hid behind the lilac bushes in the corner ofthe fence. But Captain Solomon had been doing a hard day's work, haying, and he slept very soundly. And, when he found that his fatherdidn't wake up, Sol crept out from behind the lilac bushes and took uphis bundle and went out the wide gate. 

First he turned north and walked quietly along until he had passed theold schoolhouse and had got well into the village. He went carefully, while he was in the village, for he was afraid that somebody might beabout and see him. Almost everybody in the village knew Sol, and anybodywho met him, at that time of night, would know that he was running away. Perhaps they would call up the constable and have him sent back. Solshivered when he thought of that. Then he came to the old turnpike roadto Boston and he turned toward the east into the turnpike. He hadn'tmet anybody in the village nor seen a single light. 

[Illustration: "TOOK UP HIS BUNDLE AND WENT OUT THE WIDE GATE"]

It doesn't take a good, strong boy of sixteen all night to walk a littlemore than twenty miles, and Sol loafed along and didn't hurry. Once in awhile he sat down to rest or sleep for a few minutes, but he didn't dareto really go to sleep, for fear that he would sleep all the rest of thenight; and he had to be in Boston by daylight. And, once in a while, hehad to sneak around a toll-house, because he didn't have any money. And, at each toll-house, they made each person that was walking on theturnpike pay some money; perhaps it was a penny that they had to pay. They charged more for each wagon that passed. At last he came intoBoston and it wasn't daylight yet. So he walked over to the Common andlay down under some bushes and went to sleep. 

Sol was wakened by the snuffling noise that a cow makes when it iseating the grass and by the sound of the grass being bitten off. And hestarted up, thinking of the farm at home, and there was a cow almostnear enough to touch. When he started up, the cow was frightened andgalloped off, and Sol saw that the sun was up and it must be about sixo'clock. He laughed at the cow and opened his bundle and took out somebread that he had brought, and some gingerbread, and he ate them. Itwasn't much of a breakfast, but he hadn't been able to get anythingbetter. And, when he had finished, he walked down to Spring Lane and gota drink of water at the spring, and he washed his face and hands. Then he kept on down to India street, for he was afraid his father wouldcome after him and there was no time to lose. 

[Illustration: "HE STARTED UP, THINKING OF THE FARM AT HOME"]

Sol needn't have been afraid that his father would come after him, if hehad only known what was happening at the farm. Captain Solomon had beensurprised that Sol didn't come down stairs and, finally, he had gone upafter him. There were Seth and John just waking up and rubbing the sleepout of their eyes; but there was no Sol and his bed hadn't been sleptin. And Captain Solomon looked around until he saw the two letterspinned to the pin-cushion. Then he looked angry, and he took the twoletters and marched down stairs again. He didn't say anything, but hegave the letter that was directed "For Mother" to his wife. 

And Sol's mother didn't say anything, either, but she opened her letterand read it. It didn't take very long to read it but it took longer thanCaptain Solomon's. And the tears came into her eyes as she handed theletter to Captain Solomon and asked him not to be hard on the poor boybut to be gentle with him, for he must have felt that very same way whenhe first went to sea. 

And Captain Solomon read her letter and then he sat without sayinganything for a long time, looking out of the window. Perhaps he didn'tsee the things that were there; perhaps, instead of the fields of tallgrass and of wheat, waving in the breeze, he saw the blue oceansparkling in the sun and stretching away until it met the sky. Perhapshe saw the tall masts and the white sails of the _Industry_ rising farabove his head, and felt her buoyant hull under his feet. 

Whatever he saw, as he sat there, he laughed aloud, at last, and broughthis fist down on the kitchen table. 

"Let him go!" he said. "It's in the blood. The sea's salt is in theblood and the only thing that will take it out is the sea itself. He canno more help it than he can help breathing. I'll write him a letter. "

And so it happened that there was a letter for Sol in Captain Jonathan'sand Captain Jacob's office the next morning. They didn't know where hewas, but they sent to all their ships that were in port to see if hecould be found. The _Industry_ happened to be in port, but she was justready to sail, and she was to sail that afternoon. And it happened thatSol had shipped as one of her crew and he was on board of her. CaptainJonathan and Captain Jacob didn't know that Sol was one of the crew ofthe _Industry_, because they didn't generally look over the crew listsany longer, but they left that to the captains and the mates. But whenthey found Sol, they had him come to their office, and they gave him theletter from his father. And Sol read the letter and he was very happy, and he wrote a long letter to his father. 

In that letter he said that he knew, now, that it was very foolish forhim to run away, because Captain Solomon would have let him go if hehad made him understand how he felt. But Sol had always thought that hisfather was very stern and he hadn't told him how badly he felt at beingkept away from the salt water. It may have been Captain Solomon's fault, too; and when he got Sol's letter he went to a field that was far fromthe farm-house. But he didn't do any work. He sat there, under a treethat grew beside the stone wall, all the morning looking up at theclouds. 

It would be all the more foolish for any boy to run away to sea, now-a-days. For things have changed very much in the last hundred years. Steamers have taken the place of sailing ships, and the crews of the fewships that there are aren't made up of men like Captain Solomon andSol. 

But, when the _Industry_ sailed away from that wharf in Boston for farcountries, more than a hundred years ago, Sol was a sailor. 

And that's all. 

THE TRAFALGAR STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The brig _Industry_ was one of the ships that used to sail from thatwharf and, afterwards, she sailed from a wharf in Boston. And CaptainSolomon had been the captain of her for many years; but he had got tiredof going to sea and had bought a farm that was not near the ocean. AndSol, Captain Solomon's son, had got tired of staying on the farm and hadgone off to sea, and he had risen to be the captain of the brig_Industry_. 

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ sailed from a wharf in Bostonfor Manila and Singapore and other far countries; but, first, she wasgoing to Leghorn. She carried flour, apples, salt fish, tobacco, lumber, and some other things that Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacobthought that the people in Leghorn would buy. It was Captain Sol's firstvoyage as captain and he had been a sailor about four years. 

The _Industry_ sailed along over the great ocean for many days, and shehad good weather and nothing happened that was worth mentioning. CaptainSol had his eyes open, because there was a war between England andFrance and sometimes an English warship would meet an American ship andstop her and do things that neither the captain nor the crew of theAmerican ship liked to have done. But there didn't seem to be anythingthat the American ship could do except run away; and sometimes theycould get away and sometimes it wouldn't do any good to try. 

And the _Industry_ kept getting nearer to the coast of Spain and to theStraits of Gibraltar. It was the twenty-second of October, 1805, andCaptain Sol thought that he should sight Cape Trafalgar the next day. 

So, the next morning, he began to look out for Cape Trafalgar before itwas light. And, when it was light enough to see anything, he saw thatthey were very near to a lot of great ships. They were warships and theywere battered and there were great shot holes in their sides and some ofthe yards and topmasts had been shot away and there were great rents intheir sails and, altogether, they looked like a lot of wrecks. It didn'ttake a man as smart as Captain Sol very long to guess that there hadbeen a great battle a few days before. And he was right. The battle ofTrafalgar was fought between the English fleet of ships and the fleetsof France and Spain; and the ships that Captain Sol saw were Englishships. The sailors were mending the ships, as well as they could, sothat they would be fit to sail. 

And Captain Sol wanted to know what was going on, so he sailed nearer;and, when he was as near as he dared to go, he had the sailors fix thesails so that the ship wouldn't go ahead, and he waited there. 

Pretty soon some sailors got into a boat from one of the English ships, and then an officer got in, and they rowed the boat over to the_Industry_, and the English officer came on board of the _Industry_. Captain Sol met him and he had some of the sailors stand in line oneach side of the gangway. And Captain Sol and the English officer talkedtogether, very politely, although the officer was plainly very muchsurprised to see so young a man as captain. Captain Sol was onlytwenty-one. 

And the officer told Captain Sol about the battle, and he told him thatLord Nelson had been shot in that battle, and he had died on board the_Victory_ a few hours after the battle was over. And the officer saw thelumber that the _Industry_ had on her deck, and he asked Captain Solwhat other cargo he carried. And Captain Sol told him about the flourand the apples and the salt fish and the tobacco, and the officer gotinto his boat again and was rowed back to the _Victory_. 

Captain Sol stayed there, waiting to see what would happen; for hethought that, perhaps, he might sell some of his cargo to the Englishships and not have to carry it to Leghorn. And, sure enough, the officergot into the boat again and came back. And he told Captain Sol that thecommander of the fleet would be much obliged to him if he would sellsome of his lumber and some flour and some apples; but he didn't ask forany of the salt fish nor for any of the tobacco. And Captain Sol agreedand the officer rowed away. 

Then the _Victory_ made signals to the other ships, telling them to sendboats for the lumber and the flour and the apples that they needed. Anda boat came to the _Industry_ for each ship, until they were clusteredabout her as thick as bees about a hive. And the sailors were verybusy, putting into the boats the lumber and the flour and the barrels ofapples. Captain Sol had to have a tackle rigged over the hatchway of the_Industry_ to hoist out the barrels. And when each boat had got itsload, it was rowed back to its ship. 

It took them a long time to get all those things out of the _Industry_, but at last it was all done and the last boat had rowed away; andCaptain Sol found that he had sold all of his lumber and about half ofhis flour and about half of his apples. The English sailors needed allthat lumber to mend the ships. Then another boat came from the_Victory_, and it was rowed to the _Industry_, and the paymaster of theEnglish fleet came aboard and two men came after him carrying bags ofgold money. 

Captain Sol and the paymaster and the men with the bags of money wentdown into the cabin; and the paymaster counted out the gold money forthe lumber and the flour and the apples, and left it on the cabin table. And, besides, he thanked Captain Sol for selling them the things. Thenhe went away. 

[Illustration]

Then Captain Sol had the sailors fix the sails so that the ship would goahead, and he had a sailor stand at the flag halliards and dip the flagfor a salute to the English ships. And the _Industry_ sailed away fromthose English ships towards Gibraltar, and pretty soon the ships wereout of sight. 

And that's all. 

THE CARGO STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

That wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once the brig _Industry_ was all ready to sail from Boston for farcountries. She had her cargo all stowed, but Captain Sol hadn't seen itstowed, for he had had to be away from Boston while it was being putaboard. So a lumper, or 'longshoreman, had told the men where to putthings. A lumper was a man who did the work of carrying things into aship, or out of it. This man was a pretty good 'longshoreman, but alumper wasn't a sailor and couldn't be expected to get the things stowedquite so well as a captain or a mate. The captain or the mate would bemore interested in having the things stowed well, for it makes a greatdifference, in the sailing of a ship and in her behavior, how the cargois stowed. Captain Sol generally liked to attend to those thingshimself. 

They had put on board all the things that they would eat and the waterthat they would drink; and Captain Sol came back and the _Industry_sailed away from that wharf out upon the great ocean. And she sailed thelength of the Atlantic, but she met a good deal of rough weather andshe ran into three or four storms. 

Captain Sol soon found that the cargo hadn't been well stowed and itbothered him a good deal. For, in his log-book, he wrote things likethese:

 Aug. 27, Heavy sea from the eastward. Ship labors very badly. 

 Sept. 1, Squally with rough, heavy sea. Ship labors very much. 

 Sept. 10, Ship rolls and labors hard through the night. 

 Sept. 22, Heavy gales & Squally with tremendous sea. Ship'd much water. 

 Sept. 25, Strong gales and rough sea. Ship rolls heavy. 

 Sept. 30, Hard squalls and tremendous sea from N. & E. Ship labors very hard. 

 Oct. 3, A very heavy sea running during the 24 hours. Ship labors too much, owing to bad stowage of cargo. It must be corrected. 

So, before the _Industry_ had got around the Cape of Good Hope, CaptainSol had made up his mind that he would have that cargo overhauled andstowed the way it ought to be. For he thought that the ship would sailenough faster to make up for the time it would take, and all hands wouldbe more comfortable. And he had the sailors steer her to a little islandthat he knew about, where there was a good harbor and where he wouldn'tbe bothered. And she got to that island and the sailors let her anchordown to the bottom of the harbor, and they began to take out her cargo. 

First they rigged tackles to the yards high up on the masts, and theyswung the yards so that the tackles would be just above the hatchways;and one was over the forward hatchway and one was over the afterhatchway. Then Captain Sol sent one gang of men down into the hold ofthe _Industry_ by the after hatch, with the mate to tell them what todo; and he sent another gang of men into the hold by the fore hatch, with the second mate to tell them what to do. And he divided the sailorsthat were left into two parts, six men for the fore hatch and six menfor the after hatch. The sailors were all stripped to the waist andbarefooted, for they knew, from the way the crew was divided up, thatthey would have to work hard and as quickly as they could. Captain Solwas a driver for work, but his crew didn't think any the less of him forthat. 

And Captain Sol called to the mates. "Are you all ready?" he said. 

And the mates answered that they were all ready when he was. 

"Well, rout it out, then, as fast as you're able, " said Captain Sol;"I'll see that we keep up with you. "

And he ordered four men to tail on to each rope. He meant for four mento take hold of the free end of the rope that ran through the blocks ofthe tackle. 

"And run away with it, " he said. "And when I say run I don't mean walk, either. "

The sailors already had hold of the ropes, and they grinned when CaptainSol said that. 

"Aye, aye, sir, " they shouted. 

And he ordered the other two men at the fore hatch and the other two menat the after hatch to be ready to handle and loose the bales and to belively about it. 

"All ready!" he called to the mates. 

Then the fun began. The bales and the barrels and the boxes seemed tofly out of the hatchways and to alight on the deck like a flock of greatbirds. And the men who had to handle them and to cast off the hooks didit in the liveliest way that can be imagined, and they hustled the boxesand the barrels and the bales to one side so that there should be roomfor the next thing that came up. And there was a great noise of a livelychanty, that the sailors sang all the time, without stopping. It wasn'tworth while to stop; for then, as soon as they had stopped singing, theywould have to begin again, so they kept on all the time. And there wasthe soft noise of their bare feet stamping on the deck but they didn'tstamp very hard because that would hurt their feet. 

Pretty soon the bodies and the faces of the sailors began to glisten;and, before long, the sweat was running down in streams. For, workingthere, at that island, was just about the same as it would have been ifthey had been working at Charleston or Savannah in May. It was prettyhot for such hard work. But the sailors were merry at it, and grinnedand shouted their chanty, and they kept at it until all the things wereout on the deck of the _Industry_ that had to be taken out. The thingsthat were the heaviest they didn't take out, but just moved them to oneside and left them in the hold. 

By dinner time, they had all the cargo taken out that had to be takenout, and the heaviest freshly stowed in the middle of the ship at thevery bottom. Then Captain Sol told the mates and the sailors to come up. 

"There!" said he. "I'll bet dollars to buttons there never was a shipunloaded any quicker than we've unloaded this one. Now go to yourdinner, and we'll finish this stowing this afternoon. "

And he told the mate to serve out to the sailors a little rum. They hadbeen working very hard and they would have a lot more hard work to dobefore the day was done. It was the custom, in those days, to serve outrum to the crew now and then; perhaps once a week. It wasn't a goodcustom, perhaps, but it was a custom. Captain Sol never once thought ofbreaking that custom, but he gave each man a very little, and then theyhad their dinner. 

And, after they had finished their dinner, the sailors who had been ondeck in the morning went down into the hold and the sailors who had beenin the hold in the morning stayed on deck. But the mates had to go down, and sometimes Captain Sol was in the hold and sometimes he was on deck. For he wanted to see for himself how the work was being done. 

They put the heaviest things they had left next to those great, heavythings that were stowed in the middle of the ship at the very bottom. And they kept lowering down the heaviest things that they had on deck, and the sailors who were in the hold stowed them. They packed them verytightly, so that, no matter how much the ship should pitch and toss androll, the cargo should not get loose. For it is a very bad thing for thecargo to shift, and a ship might be lost if its cargo shifted, in astorm. It is only in a storm that such a thing is likely to happen. 

At last they had lowered the last bale and the last box that they had ondeck, and they had been stowed. And the men who were in the hold calledout for more, and the men on deck said that there wasn't any more. Themates were surprised, for there was some room left in the hold thatthere hadn't been the way the cargo was stowed at first. And the matescame up, and the sailors came up, and they were just dripping wet. 

And Captain Sol thanked the men for working so willingly all day, and hesaid that he thought that they would all be glad because the ship wouldride easier, after this, and wouldn't take in so much water; and itwould be much easier to handle sail in rough weather. And he said thathe supposed they thought they ought to have a little more rum. He wasgoing to serve it out to them, but he warned them that it would be avery little. 

And, at that, the men all roared out, and Captain Sol went to thequarter deck and stood by the railing that divided it from the rest ofthe ship. He had a jug beside him. And the men came up, with their tincups in their hands, and they held their cups up high, one at a time. And Captain Sol poured a very little rum into each cup, and the man withthe cup went forward. 

But, while Captain Sol was doing that, there was one sailor near themiddle of the ship who felt as if he would rather have a dousing of coldwater than all the rum in the jug. And that man got one of those bucketsthat were used to get salt water from the ocean for washing down decksand for other things. The bucket had a long rope for a handle. And hedropped the bucket overboard and gave the right jerk to the rope, and hepulled it up, full of water. Then he stopped a man who was going by withhis cup, and asked him to throw the water over him. The other man askedhim where he would have it. 

"Alow and aloft, " said the sailor who had got the water, "and fore andaft. "

[Illustration]

So the other sailor began to throw the water over him. But, just then, there was another sailor just going by, and the temptation was toogreat. He threw what water was left in the bucket over that othersailor. And that sailor gave a great roar, and ran to get anotherbucket. And he filled it and tried to throw the water on the man who hadwet him down; but he couldn't find him. So he threw the water overanother man. 

And that man ran for a bucket, and in about a minute all the sailorswere chasing each other around, throwing water over everybody they met. There was a great noise and uproar, but everybody was good-natured aboutit, for they were all very hot and the salt water felt very pleasant tothem. And, of course, the clothes that they had on were all wet through, but nobody had on anything much besides his breeches, and it didn'tmatter. And Captain Sol and the mate stood on the quarter deck andlaughed at them. 

And, when the men had got tired of playing, they went down to theirsupper; and Captain Sol went down to write in his log-book. 

 Nov. 6. Had cargo out and restowed it between 9 a. M. And 6 p. M. , with an hour for dinner. I w'ld like to see the gang of lumpers that can do half as well. So ends this day. 

And that's all. 

THE PRIVATEER STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

That wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

Once, in the year 1807, the brig _Industry_ sailed from Boston for farcountries with Captain Sol as her captain. There was, at that time, agreat war between France and Spain, on one side, and England and someother countries, on the other side; but the English ships had to doalmost all the fighting, for their side, that was done on the ocean. And there were a good many English and French and Spanish privateerssailing about, seeing how much harm they could do to the ships thatbelonged to the other side. 

[Illustration]

A privateer was a vessel that was fitted out by private persons, just asif Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob had made up their minds that the_Industry_ should be a privateer, if the United States was at war. Andthey would fit her out with guns and swords and cutlasses, and theywould get a crew for her, and they would ask the government if she couldbe a privateer. And the government would probably have said that shecould, and they would have sent Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob somepapers, called "letters of marque and reprisal, " which said that the_Industry_ was a United States privateer and that she could take shipsas prizes and sell them. Governments do not do that, now, and aprivateer is no better than a pirate; but they all did it a hundredyears ago. 

Captain Sol had thought about it a great deal, for privateers weren'tvery particular what ships they captured; and he wondered whether heought to carry a whole lot of guns. He always had some guns on the ship, but not enough to make a fight with, if the other vessel had a wholelot, as privateers always did. But, finally, he decided that he hadbetter not, or he might be taken for a pirate. For his country wasn'tat war and, of course, he hadn't any papers. Pirates that are capturedare usually short lived. So he had sailed away without any guns worthmentioning. 

The _Industry_ sailed along over the ocean for about two weeks andnothing much happened, and she wasn't so very far from the coast ofSpain; perhaps she was three or four hundred miles away. 

For, on that voyage, she was bound to Leghorn, first, and then she wasgoing to Java and Manila. And, in the middle of the forenoon of thatday, the lookout in the crosstrees of the _Industry_ reported a sailheading directly for them. 

Captain Sol was worried about it and asked the sailor about the rig ofthe vessel. And the sailor said that he couldn't tell what her rig wasbecause he couldn't see any more than her upper sails, and not much ofthem; but she seemed to be a brig, and he thought she was fast, by theway she was rising. He thought he should be able to see her hull in lessthan half an hour. 

Captain Sol said a bad word and took his glass and went up to thecrosstrees himself. But he couldn't see enough, there, so he went on, upthe mast. And he rested the glass against the rigging and looked. Ittook him a long time to see anything, the rigging jumped around so; butat last he managed to see. And he came down quickly and spoke to the manat the wheel, who looked at him as if he expected some orders. 

"Keep her as she goes, " he said. "It won't do any good to try to runaway from that vessel. She can sail three feet to our two. And, whoevershe is, she has no business with us, anyway. "

But Captain Sol knew that it would make very little difference whethershe had any right to stop them or not. If her captain wanted to hewould. And the mates knew that, and the sailors knew it. So Captain Solordered one of the sailors to hoist the United States flag, and he kepton. 

[Illustration: "THAT WAS A SIGNAL FOR THE _Industry_ TO STOP"]

The brig kept rising fast and, in a short time, they could see her hullfrom the deck of the _Industry_. They saw that she was a Spanishprivateer; and she hoisted the Spanish flag and kept on. And, prettysoon, she was nearly abreast of the _Industry_; and she turned alittle, and there was a little puff of smoke from her side, and thesound of the report came over the water a second or two later. 

That was a signal for the _Industry_ to stop. But the _Industry_ seemedto have grown deaf, and she didn't stop, and no sailor made a move totouch a rope. And the Spanish brig seemed to be a little angry, and sheturned again and there was a bigger puff of smoke from her side and acannon ball came skipping across the water, ahead of the _Industry_. That was a hint that she had better stop, if she knew what was good forher. But Captain Sol only had another United States flag hoisted, and itwas a bigger flag than the first one. 

When the Spanish brig saw that the _Industry_ wasn't going to stop, sheseemed to get very angry. There was another puff of smoke from her side, and a solid shot tore through one of the sails of the _Industry_, leaving a ragged hole. 

[Illustration]

"Well, " said Captain Sol, "she's begun to talk. I guess we may as wellheave to. "

So he had the sailors fix the sails so that the ship wouldn't go ahead. But the sailors worked slowly, and the mates didn't hurry them, either. 

And, in a few minutes, a boat put off from the Spanish brig, and theboat was filled with men. They had a pretty long way to row becauseCaptain Sol hadn't stopped when he was asked to. But, after a while, they were at the side. The officer in the Spanish boat was very muchexcited and talked very fast. He wanted Captain Sol to put a gangway ora ladder over the side, so that he could get on board easily. 

But Captain Sol winked at the mate and made believe that he didn'tunderstand. 

"No compreeny, " he said, leaning over the side. For he thought that theycould come aboard any way they were able. He had had the ship stoppedfor them. 

"Donkey!" said the officer, in Spanish. And he scrambled up, followed byten of his men. The other men stayed in the boat. 

And Captain Sol was very polite, but he couldn't talk Spanish and hemade believe he couldn't understand what was said. Really, he knewenough Spanish to be able to understand what the officer said, but hecouldn't speak Spanish. After a while, the officer tried French, butCaptain Sol made believe that he couldn't understand that, either, andhe said, in English, that he was very sorry that he didn't have anyFrenchmen in the crew. So the officer gave up trying to make Captain Solunderstand. 

And he made the crew of the _Industry_ go in the boat, but he leftCaptain Sol and the mates, and ten men for a prize crew. And he toldCaptain Sol that he was to take the ship to Cadiz. He kept saying thatname over and over. 

Captain Sol knew that it would be of no use to resist, and he didn't. And the crew bade him good bye, and the boat was rowed away. Then hisnew Spanish crew fixed the sails so that the ship would go ahead. Hethought they were pretty clumsy about it, but he didn't say anything. And the _Industry_ sailed away towards Cadiz, and the Spanish brigturned to the north. 

They sailed all the rest of that day towards the coast of Spain, whichwas on their way to Leghorn, anyway. Captain Sol kept his eyes open, forhe hadn't given up hoping for a chance to get the ship back again; butthe chance didn't seem very good, with only the two mates and himselfagainst the ten Spaniards. And, that night, there must have beensomething the matter with the watch that the Spaniards kept, for, whenthere was light enough to see, in the morning, there was a big Englishwarship close to them. She was big enough to swallow the _Industry_whole and never to know the difference. Captain Sol laughed right outloud when the Spaniards first saw her; he had known about her nearlyhalf the night. 

The Spaniards never once thought of fighting, but surrendered right off. It would have been very foolish for them to fight, for they were onlyten men, in a ship that wasn't fitted for fighting; and the English shipwas a big ship fitted up on purpose to fight, and she had a crew ofthree or four hundred men. 

So a boat soon put off from the English ship, with sailors in it, andcame to the side of the _Industry_. And Captain Sol was hurrying to puta ladder over, so that the English officer could come up without anytrouble. But the officer didn't wait for any ladder; he and his menswarmed up the side like flies. And Captain Sol met the officer, and helaughed and said that he was glad to see him. And the officer smiled andwondered why that was, and he shook hands with Captain Sol; and thenCaptain Sol and the officer went into the cabin together. And CaptainSol told the officer about the Spanish privateer. 

When the officer had heard the story he said it was hard luck, but, asthe vessel was a Spanish prize, he should have to take her. He thoughtthat the Admiralty court would fix that matter all right. And CaptainSol sighed and said that he hoped so, but he didn't know much aboutAdmiralty courts. He had understood that American owners were apt to getthe worst of it. And then Captain Sol and the officer had a glass ofwine together, and it was so good that they each had another glass; andthen they went on deck. 

The officer bundled the Spaniards into the boat and left ten Englishmento take their places, apologizing to Captain Sol for leaving him soshort-handed. The _Industry_ generally had a crew of twenty-five orthirty men. Then the officer got into the boat and rowed away. CaptainSol was to take the _Industry_ to Gibraltar, which was right on the wayto Leghorn, too. And it was pretty near, so that he ought to get therethe next day. 

Then Captain Sol had an idea. He served out a little rum, first, and hetold the crew that if nothing happened he would take the ship straightto Gibraltar. But the Spaniards were pretty thick between where theywere and Gibraltar, so he thought he would ask them a question. If theyshould be taken by the Spaniards again, and the crew should be left onboard, would they agree to sign as his crew, for a voyage to Leghorn andother ports?

When the English sailors heard that, some of them began to grin; andthey talked together for a little while, and then they said that theywould agree to do as Captain Sol had said. And Captain Sol was pleased, and he served out another helping of rum all around. The sailors calledit grog. 

Sure enough, they were captured again, the next morning, before they hadgot within sight of Gibraltar; and the Spanish ship put on board the_Industry_ a prize crew of nine men. But she left the English crew onboard, for she had already taken several other prizes; and she had putother prize crews on board of those prizes, and she had their crews asprisoners. And her captain was afraid to have more prisoners because hewould have nearly as many prisoners as he had men left in his crew. Thenthe Spanish ship told Captain Sol to steer for Algiers, and she sailedaway about her business. 

Captain Sol did as he was told and steered for Algiers. But, in thenight of that day, the two mates went, while the Spanish crew weren'tlooking, and they set free the Englishmen and gave them a paper to sign. That paper made them Captain Sol's sailors. And then they gave each manpistols and a cutlass, and the first mate took half of the Englishmenand went to the forecastle, where four men of the Spanish crew weresleeping; and the second mate took the other five Englishmen, and hewent on deck, where the other five men of the Spanish crew were onwatch, but he hid his Englishmen. And Captain Sol was walking back andforth on the quarter deck, and suddenly he began to whistle softly. Andall the Englishmen sprang out, and they had that Spanish crew capturedbefore they knew what had happened. But they didn't have to hurtanybody, they captured them so quickly. 

Then Captain Sol changed the course of the _Industry_ so that she washeading for Leghorn, and he got to Leghorn in due time; but he had sometrouble in getting rid of his Spanish prisoners. 

And nobody ever knew whether Captain Sol meant to be captured by theSpaniards, that last time, or not. 

And that's all. 

THE RACE STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

A long time ago the brig _Industry_ lay at that wharf in Boston, and shewas all ready to sail for far countries. And there was a ship that wasnamed the _Augusta Ramsay_ lying at the next wharf, and she was allready to sail, too, and she was going to the same country that the_Industry_ was going to. Captain Sol had been on the _Industry_ for along time, seeing that the cargo was stowed as well as it could bestowed, and trying to hurry the lumpers. But he couldn't make them hurryvery much. 

Captain Sol wanted to get the _Industry_ away before the _AugustaRamsay_ sailed, so as to gain as much time as he could. For, in thosedays, the owners of ships couldn't telegraph to far countries to findout what they had to sell and what they wanted to buy, but the captainsof their ships had to find out those things when the ships got there. And the captains had to sell the things they brought for as much as theycould get for them, and they had to buy what they wanted to carry backfor as low a price as they could. 

So it made a good deal of difference whether a ship got there first ornot; for the ship that got there first could sell the things that shebrought at a higher price, and could buy the things to bring back for alower price than a ship that got there a little later. So Captain Solknew that it would be a race, for the whole voyage, between the_Industry_ and the _Augusta Ramsay_. And Captain Henry, of the _AugustaRamsay_, knew it, too, and he was hurrying as fast as he could. The_Augusta Ramsay_ was a good deal bigger than the _Industry_, but CaptainSol had his mind made up to beat her if he blew the sticks right out ofthe _Industry_. 

So it happened that the ship _Augusta Ramsay_ pulled out from her wharfat exactly the same time that the brig _Industry_ pulled out from hers. And they both began to set all the sails that they possibly could. Andthe ship and the brig sailed down the harbor together before a fairwind. A fair wind is a wind that blows about the way the vessel isgoing. But the _Augusta Ramsay_ was just ahead, going down the harbor, for the wharf that she started from was a little nearer to the channelthan Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's wharf; and the channel thatled out of Boston Harbor was even more crooked and narrow than it isnow. So the _Industry_ couldn't pass the _Augusta Ramsay_, while theywere in the channel and setting all those many sails, and Captain Soldidn't try it. 

By the time the _Industry_ had got out into Boston Bay she had set hermainsail and her foresail, and her maintopsail and her foretopsail, andher maintopgallantsail and her foretopgallantsail, and her mainroyal andher foreroyal, and her mainskysail and her foreskysail, and all of herjibs and her spanker and her staysails; and the sailors were busygetting out her studdingsail booms. The studdingsail booms are sticksthat stick out beyond the ends of the yards; and, as soon as the sailorshad got out these booms, they set the studdingsails that belonged onthem, so that it was just as if the foresail and the other sails thathad studdingsails had been made so much bigger. And the _Industry_ hadset all the sail that she could set. 

The _Augusta Ramsay_ had all the sails that the _Industry_ had and, besides those sails, she had the sails that belong on the mizzenmast:the cross-jack and the mizzentopsail and the mizzentopgallantsail andthe mizzenroyal and the mizzenskysail and all the mizzenstaysails. Butthe _Industry_ couldn't set those sails on the mizzenmast, because shedidn't have any mizzenmast. And the two vessels leaned a good deal andthe foam piled up under their bows and they just flew out of Boston Bayinto Massachusetts Bay and out past Provincetown into the great ocean;but neither gained on the other any worth mentioning. 

And night came and they didn't take in any of the sails that they hadset, but they sailed on, in the moonlight. Captain Sol had to keep hiscrew pretty busy, changing the sails so that the wind would blow onthem the right way, and so did Captain Henry. It is a good deal of a jobto change these many sails. But morning came, and there was the _AugustaRamsay_ right abreast of them. And the wind increased, so that the twovessels leaned a great deal; but Captain Sol said that he guessed hecould carry his sail as long as Captain Henry could carry his, and hewasn't going to be the first to take in sail. But the sailors didn'tlike to hear Captain Sol say that because they knew that it meant hardwork for them. 

They sailed on, that way, for a long time, and they never lost sight ofeach other. But, first, the _Augusta Ramsay_ would be a little way aheadand then the _Industry_ would gain a little and go ahead of the _AugustaRamsay_. Then, one day, it began to blow harder and harder and CaptainSol knew that they would have a storm. And he got a little worriedbecause he was afraid that he might have to take in some sail beforeCaptain Henry did. For he wouldn't risk his ship just because he hadsaid that he wasn't going to be the first to take in sail. And helooked, through his glass, at the _Augusta Ramsay_, to see if she tookin any of her sails, and he waited as long as he dared to wait. Then, just as he was going to give it up, and take his glass down, he saw thesailors on the _Augusta Ramsay_ going up on the yards. And he was veryglad of it, and he gave orders for his sailors to reduce sail. And thesailors were glad, too, and they swarmed up aloft and took in the sailsin a jiffy. 

The storm lasted for three days and two nights. The wind blew harder andharder and the waves got higher and higher and the rain came down insheets. Then it would stop raining, for a little while, and the windwould blow harder than ever, while the flying clouds seemed to be nohigher than the masthead. Then it would begin to rain again. But theydidn't lose sight of the _Augusta Ramsay_ completely, although, attimes, she was hidden by the rain and, for one whole day, they didn'tsee her at all. But she was there on the next morning. And the_Industry_, all through that hard blow, was sailing under double-reefedtopsails, and so was the _Augusta Ramsay_. And double-reefed topsails isvery little sail, compared to the enormous spread of canvas that thevessels had set when they left Boston. 

At last, after dark of the third day, the wind began to be less and theclouds to be more broken, and Captain Sol knew that the storm was over. And he made up his mind that he would get out of that place just as soonas he could, for he thought that, just as likely as not, it would becalm there for some time. And he thought that the sooner he got out ofany place where there was likely to be no wind, the better. So he didn'tgo to bed, but he watched the weather, and he waited. Finally, hethought that the _Industry_ could stand a little more sail. 

"Call all hands, " he said to the mate, "and get sail on her, little bylittle. We don't want to loaf around here. "

It was two o'clock in the morning, and the mate thought that the sailorswould grumble; but he didn't care. "Aye, aye, sir, " he said. 

And he called all hands, and they came up on deck, grumbling at thecaptain for routing them up at that time, to make sail, when it wasblowing hard enough, anyway. But the mate pretended not to hear them, and he ordered some of the sailors aloft. And the sailors that wentaloft shook out the reefs in the topsails; and the sailors that were ondeck pulled away at the halliards and at the sheets, but they didn'tshout out any chanty. 

And the _Industry_ began to sail faster. And pretty soon Captain Sol hadthe men shake out some other sails and hoist them. And the wind wasless, and a star showed. And Captain Sol had the men set more sails, sothat the vessel had all that she could stand. Then, pretty soon, morestars showed, and the wind kept on going down. And, by daylight, he hadnearly all the sails set, and nothing was to be seen of the _AugustaRamsay_. And Captain Sol chuckled to himself, and went down to bed. 

He didn't sleep very long but just took a little nap and then he went ondeck again. There were two things that bothered him a little, besidesthe sailing of his vessel, which couldn't be said to bother him at all;for he always did the very best he could. Nobody can do any more thanthat. And, when he had done the very best he could, Captain Sol didn'tworry about what would happen; which was very sensible on Captain Sol'spart. And the two things that bothered him were, first, where the_Augusta Ramsay_ was; and, second, the disposition of his crew. Itseemed to him that they were likely to make trouble. Captain Sol wasn'tafraid of trouble, but he knew that the willingness of the crew made agreat difference in the speed that could be got out of a vessel in along voyage. So he made up his mind that he would attend to the secondmatter first. 

Captain Sol had all hands called; and the men came up unwillingly, andthey were very cross with Captain Sol because they thought that he hadcalled them to change the sails again. And they had been up nearly thewhole of three nights and wanted to sleep. But Captain Sol called themall aft, and he stood by the railing that was at the edge of the quarterdeck and he made them a little speech. He said that the men must knowthat there was a race between the _Augusta Ramsay_ and the _Industry_, and that each vessel was trying to be the first to get to the farcountry, where they both were bound. It was worth something to hisowners to have the _Industry_ get there first, and he would promise thecrew five dollars apiece if they beat the _Augusta Ramsay_, even if theyonly beat her by an hour. And, for every day that they beat her, up totwo weeks, he would promise them two dollars apiece. He didn't careabout beating her by more than two weeks, because he thought that hewould have his cargo aboard, all ready to carry back to Boston, in thattime. But there must be no skulking and no unwillingness. Anything ofthat kind would be severely dealt with, and he would not hesitate to putany man in irons for the rest of the voyage who didn't jump to his dutyat the word. 

And, when Captain Sol had finished his speech, the men all shouted out acheer for him and another cheer for Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob. And they weren't grumbly any more but they were glad. And Captain Solturned away and looked through his glass to see if he could make out the_Augusta Ramsay_. But he couldn't see any sign of her. 

So Captain Sol sailed the _Industry_ across the wide ocean and downaround the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean; and hecarried sail until it almost cracked the masts, and his crew were aswilling as they could be and nobody skulked. But, all that time, therewas no sign of the _Augusta Ramsay_. And they sailed into the wide riverand anchored; and Captain Sol sold the things he had brought and boughtthe things to carry back, and still there was no sign of the _AugustaRamsay_. 

And he loaded the _Industry_ with the things that he had bought, and hehoisted his anchor and sailed away down the river. And, just as he cameto the ocean, there was the _Augusta Ramsay_ sailing in. 

Captain Sol had the sails fixed so that the ship wouldn't go ahead andso did Captain Henry. And Captain Sol had a boat lowered and sailors gotin, to row it, and he went over to make a call on Captain Henry. And hefound that the _Augusta Ramsay_ had been caught in a calm place, afterthat storm, because Captain Henry hadn't been willing to rout his menout at two o'clock in the morning; and she hadn't been able to get outof that calm place for nearly two weeks, but had stayed there, with hersails flapping against the masts, for all that long time. And CaptainHenry said that it was a joke on him and bade Captain Sol good bye andwished him a good voyage home. But Captain Sol thought that it was nojoke for the owners of the _Augusta Ramsay_. 

Then he got into his boat again and went back to his ship. And the_Augusta Ramsay_ fixed her sails so that she would go ahead, and so didthe _Industry_. And they sailed away from each other; but Captain Solhad taken Captain Henry's letters. 

And that's all. 

THE PILOT STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned theships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing fromthat wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed theiroffice to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston. 

The channel into Boston Harbor was crooked and narrow and a captain hadto know it very well to be able to take a ship in safely. A good manycaptains didn't like to risk it, even if they thought they did know thechannel pretty well. So there were some men who made it their businessto take vessels out of the harbor, that wanted to go out, and to bringvessels in, that wanted to come in. Those men were called harbor pilots, or just pilots. And they knew just exactly how much water they wouldfind at each place; and they knew the whole harbor so well that theycould tell, almost, where every stone, of the size of a hat, was on thebottom of it. In the year 1820, John Wilson was one of these pilots, andhe lived at Winthrop. Winthrop was a convenient place for a pilot tolive in, for it is on a sort of a point that bends around, so that it isoutside of Boston Harbor. 

Now John Wilson's house was where he could see, from the windows of aroom upstairs, far out to sea. He could have seen Provincetown, on theend of Cape Cod, if it hadn't been so far away that it was hidden bythe roundness of the world; and there was nothing, except the ocean andthe ships that sailed on it, between him and Europe. On clear days hewas apt to sit at his upper window, looking out over the ocean andsmoking. And whenever he saw the upper sails of some vessel beginning toshow, far away, over the waters of Massachusetts Bay, he would hurry offto his sloop, that always lay ready at the wharf, just below; and hewould tell the man who was pottering about on the sloop, and who wasnamed Joe, that there was a vessel coming up and that he had better stirhis stumps. For he thought that it was the ship _Dawn_. Or, perhaps, itwas the brig _Sally Ann_ or the _Coromandel_, or the ship _Pactolys_, orthe _Savannah_, or the _Augusta Ramsay_, or the brig _Industry_. ForJohn Wilson knew every vessel that sailed from Boston so well that hecould tell a vessel's name as soon as he caught sight of her uppersails. 

Then Joe would hurry and John Wilson would hurry and they would saildown to meet that vessel. And John Wilson, if he was the first pilot toget to the vessel, which he generally was, would climb aboard, leavingJoe to sail the sloop alone; and he would take command of the vessel andpilot her safely in, through the channel, to her wharf. 

But, if it was foggy or hazy, so that John Wilson could not see thesails of vessels far off, over the water, even with his long glass, heand Joe would sail back and forth before the entrance to Boston Harbor. Sometimes there would be three or four pilot boats sailing back andforth, waiting for the ships to come in; and, when they sighted a ship, it would be a race to see which boat would get to her first. 

One afternoon, in the late summer, John Wilson sat at his upper window, smoking and looking out at the gulls. His long glass lay on anotherchair beside him, all ready to look through; and, once in a while, hetook it up and looked, very carefully, all along the edge of the ocean. But, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see any ships. There wasa fisherman going out, but fishermen didn't take pilots, and, if theyhad, it was too late, anyway. And he saw another small vessel coming in, pretty soon after the fisherman had gone. It was the Portland packet. She didn't take a pilot, either, but her captain was a pilot. 

[Illustration]

John Wilson was getting tired of sitting by that window, although it wasa very pleasant place on a summer afternoon. He got up and stretchedsleepily, for it was sleepy work sitting there, doing nothing. Then hethought that he might as well take a last look through the glass, beforehe went, and he lifted it and held it against the frame of the windowand looked. 

"Hello!" he said to himself. "The skysails and royals of something. It'sa brig. By the cut of her sails, she'll be the _Industry_. Haven't heardof her since she was spoken, going out, five months ago. She must havemade a quick passage. "

Then he put down the glass and hurried down to the sloop. 

"Hurry up, Joe, " he said. "The old _Industry_'s coming in. And she's ina hurry, too. That Cap'n Sol's carrying royals and skysails. That's allthat showed. Like enough he's got stu'n'sails on her, too. He seems towant to get in to-night; and we've got to hurry, for she'll keep righton to his wharf, pilot or no pilot. "

"He hasn't been reported at Manila, " said Joe. 

"No, " said John Wilson, "he hasn't. But he'll report his own arrivalthere. There's few can carry sail with Cap'n Sol. "

[Illustration: "THE SLOOP WAS ON HER WAY"]

The sloop was on her way, by that time, out to the channel and down tothe bay. She was rather fast, for such a small vessel, for the pilot whohad the fastest boat had the best chance; and she had a good deal ofsail for a boat of her size. But she couldn't sail as fast as the_Industry_. She met the _Industry_ about five miles out in the bay, and John Wilson saw that Captain Sol had put a flag in the rigging, toshow that he wanted a pilot. 

Captain Sol had the sails fixed so that the _Industry_ wouldn't go aheadvery fast, and the sloop came alongside and John Wilson scrambledaboard. The sloop wasn't tied to the ship at all, and she didn't stayalongside as long as a minute; then she was sailing off again, towardsBoston. For Joe had to take John Wilson home again after he had got avessel piloted safely in to the wharf that she was going to. 

Captain Sol met John Wilson when he came on board and shook hands withhim. 

"Hello, John, " he said. "I hoped we should get you. "

"Hello, Sol, " said John Wilson. "You haven't been reported at Manila, yet, and you have no business to be here. "

"So?" asked Captain Sol. "Three ships sailed from Manila for Bostonahead of me. They'll be along in the course of time. " He smiled tohimself at the thought of his having passed those ships. But Captain Soldidn't generally say much, and John Wilson didn't ask him anything moreabout those ships. But he made up his mind that he would keep a sharplookout for them. "Get us in as soon as you can, John, " continuedCaptain Sol. "I have some business that I want to get done before dark. "

"All right, " said John Wilson; and he began to give his orders. 

The sails were fixed so that the ship would go ahead again as fast asshe was going before. They passed the pilot boat, with Joe sailing itall alone, and then John Wilson told the sailors to begin to take insail. They had so much sail spread that it would take the sailors allthe time, until they got to the wharf, to take it in, for they hadreached the beginning of the channel between the islands. 

And they sailed in, past the islands, and John Wilson had the shipsteered so that she went in the deepest part of the channel. And theycame up to the wharf, gently, and the ship was tied to the wharf withgreat ropes; and there was a little of the afternoon left. So CaptainSol went to attend to the business that he wanted to do. But John Wilsonwent to the office of Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob and they paidhim some money for piloting the _Industry_ up the harbor. 

Then he went back to the wharf and watched the sailors, who were busy onthe _Industry_, and he waited for Joe to come, with the sloop, to takehim back to Winthrop. And, in about half an hour, there was the sloop. And John Wilson got aboard and sailed away for Winthrop. 

And that's all. 

THE DRIFTWOOD STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, andbeside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where greatships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steephill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to godown the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all thesailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with theships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made thesidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago. 

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been andalways will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of acity from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, forit is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grownup with weeds and grass. 

Many times, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from thatwharf, on voyages to far countries, and had come back again to thewharf, bringing spices and tea and sets of china and pretty littletables inlaid with ivory and ebony, and camel's hair shawls, and clothof goat's hair, and logs of teak-wood to make things of, and manyanother beautiful thing. And, when Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacobmoved their office to Boston, she had sailed from a wharf in Boston tothat far country. Captain Solomon was the captain of the _Industry_then. And Captain Solomon married and had sons, and when those sons werebeginning to get old enough to go to sea, Captain Solomon stopped beinga captain and became a farmer. For he didn't want his sons to go to sea, and he thought that, if he had a farm, away from the salt ocean, theywouldn't go. So he bought the farm that it tells about in the FarmStories. But little Sol ran away to sea, just the same; and he got to bethe captain of the _Industry_. 

And Captain Jonathan got to be an old man, and he died peacefully. Andstill the brig _Industry_ sailed to that far country and sailed backagain. And the years passed, and Captain Jacob got to be a very old man, and he died, too; and Lois was an old woman, and little Jacob, her son, had grown to be a man, and little Lois, her daughter, had grown up andmarried. And still the brig _Industry_ sailed on her voyages and cameback again, but she was getting to be old, too. 

[Illustration: "MANY TIMES HAD SHE BEEN TIED UP AT THAT WHARF"]

And, at last, after more years had passed, the _Industry_ was so oldthat she needed to have a lot done to her to make her safe. And herowners decided that it wasn't worth while to rebuild an old vessel, butthey would build a new one instead; for they didn't build the kind ofship that the _Industry_ was any more, but they built a kind that theythought was better and faster. So, when she got in the next time fromthat far country, they told her captain what they had decided to do. That captain wasn't Captain Sol. He didn't go to sea any more, but helived in Boston. 

So, when she had been unloaded, the captain and some sailors sailed herdown to the wide river that the little city was beside. It took themonly about a half a day to go there from Boston, and the _Industry_sailed into the river for the last time, and up to the wharf that wasall falling down. And the men tied her to the wharf with great ropes. Many times had she been tied up at that wharf, and she had loaded thereand had been unloaded there many times. But she now would never again gosailing out of the river into the great ocean. 

And the captain went to the riggers of ships, and he had hard work tofind them; but at last he found some riggers of ships that were left, and he told them to come to the wharf and take the sails and the yardsoff the _Industry_, and the masts out of her, because she was going tobe broken up. And the riggers came, and they took the sails off theyards and they took the yards down; and they took down the topmasts, andthey took off the bowsprit, and they took out the great masts that hadfelt the strain of the winds blowing on the sails for thousands andthousands of miles. And the _Industry_ was nothing but an old hulklying at an old wharf that was falling down. 

Then some junk men came, and they stripped off the copper sheets thatwere on her bottom, and they took the iron work out of her, and theycarried the copper sheets and the iron to their shop. Then they untiedthe great ropes which held the hulk to the wharf, and they towed allthat was left of the _Industry_ to a shallow place, up the wide river, and there they pulled it high up on the shore. And some more men cameand began stripping off the sheathing of thin boards that had been puton outside of her planking, and they sawed this sheathing up until itwas small enough to go in a fireplace, and they split it up into smallsticks. For the sheathing, that has been next to the copper sheets andhas gone in the salt water for so many years, would burn with prettygreen and blue flames and little flashes of red. And then they began totake off her thick planking of oak. 

Lois's son, that had been little Jacob, was Squire Jacob when he hadgrown up. And he heard of it, and he came to see the end of the_Industry_. And, when he saw the remains of the ship lying there on theshore, and saw where the men had taken the planks off, so that her greatribs showed, like a skeleton, the sight filled his heart with sadness. He thought of the voyage that he had made in her, when he was a littleboy, and he thought of the many times that she had sailed to that farcountry and had always brought the sailors and the captains back safe;and he stood there, looking, for a long time. But, at last, he turnedaway, and he went to the men who had the sheathing all sawed and splitinto small sticks, and he bought that sheathing, every bit of it. And hetold the men that he would like to have the rudder and one or two of theribs. And the men said that they would be glad to give him the rudderand some of the ribs. 

Then he went back to the little city, and he found an old sailor who hadsailed in the _Industry_. That sailor was an old man and he didn't go tosea any more, he was so old; but he lived in a nice kind of a place thatwas for old sailors to live in, and he liked to whittle things with hisknife. He could whittle pretty well, for sailors are great whittlers. And Lois's son, Squire Jacob, told this old sailor about the_Industry_, and how he had bought all the sheathing that there was, andthat he would have the rudder and some of the ribs. And he asked thesailor if he could manage to make a model of the brig _Industry_ out ofthe rudder, and fit it with sails and everything just as the _Industry_really had been. And the sailor was sorry when he heard about it, and hesaid he would like nothing better than to make the model, and it shouldbe exactly like the _Industry_, down to the smallest block and the leastrope. And he said that he would make the model for nothing if he mighthave the rest of the rudder to make a model for himself, too. 

So Squire Jacob was glad, and he told the old sailor that he could havethe rest of the rudder and welcome, and that he must come up sometimesand sit in front of his fire when the sheathing was burning; for he hada good deal of it, and it would be a long time before it was all burnedup. And the old man thanked him and said that he would be glad to come. 

Then Squire Jacob went to some cabinet makers, and he said that he wouldlike to have them make a chair for him out of the ribs of the_Industry_. It would be an arm-chair and would have a picture of thebrig carved in the wood up at the top of the back. And the cabinetmakers understood, and they said that they would make him the arm-chair. 

[Illustration]

And at last the arm-chair was all done, and the model was almost done;but the arm-chair was done first. And, one evening, Squire Jacob wassitting in the arm-chair before the fire, and in his hand he held thelittle model of the _Industry_, that an old sailor had carved, with hisjack-knife, for his Christmas present when he went on that voyage to farcountries as a little boy. The hull of that little model was made ofebony and the masts and spars were little ebony sticks; and the sailswere of ivory, scraped thin, and the ropes were silk thread. And thesails were bulging, as if the wind was filling them and making themstand out from the yards. But the ivory sails were yellow with age, andthe silk thread was all yellow and rotten. 

That little model was only about three inches long, so that it restedeasily on Squire Jacob's hand. He sat before the fire, looking at thelittle model, and his wife sat in another chair beside him. And theirdaughter, who was named Lois, was sitting in a low chair by her mother. That Lois was pretty nearly grown up. And Squire Jacob remembered, andhe told his wife and his daughter Lois the things that it tells about inthe Christmas Story. 

When he had finished telling the Christmas Story, the door-bell rang;and Lois went to the door, and she came back and said that an old manwas out in the hall, but he wouldn't come in. And Squire Jacob went outto the hall, and he came back with the old sailor who had carved themodel of the brig _Industry_ out of the real rudder of the ship. He hadthat model in his arms. And he set the model that he had brought in themiddle of the mantel, over the fire, and sat down in the arm-chair. AndSquire Jacob didn't say anything, but he handed him the little model, made of ebony and ivory. 

The old sailor took the little model, and it made him remember manythings; and he remembered about the old man who had carved that modeland about that very voyage, for he had been one of the crew of the_Industry_ when she went on that voyage to far countries and carriedlittle Jacob and little Sol. And he told some stories about that sailorand that voyage that Squire Jacob was very glad to hear. 

They all sat there for a long time, but they didn't say much. And theold sailor looked from the little model of the _Industry_, in his hand, to the big one, that was on the mantel before him; and Squire Jacob tooksome of the sheathing of the real _Industry_ and put it on the fire. Andit blazed up with flames that were all green and blue, and red. 

"A many miles o' ocean 's in that flame, " said the old sailor, "a manymiles. "

"And a good ship, " said Squire Jacob. 

"That she was, " said the old sailor. "A good ship. "

[Illustration]

And they watched the sheathing burning, and Squire Jacob thought that hesaw pictures in the flames. At first he saw a ship all alone on thegreat ocean, and nothing could be seen from the ship but miles oftossing water; and the flame died out. Then another flame blazed up, andSquire Jacob saw a great river with a city on the bank, and the brig_Industry_ was anchored in the river. And many little boats were rowedfrom the city to the ship and back again. The little boats were loadedwith tea and spices and camel's-hair shawls and many other beautifulthings. And he saw Captain Solomon on the ship; and that flame died out. And another flame blazed up, and he saw the _Industry_ just coming upthe river and tying up at the wharf that the narrow road led down to. And that flame died out quickly, and the piece of sheathing only glowed, for it was all burned to ashes, and the ashes dropped down where theother ashes were. 

And that's all of this book. 

THE SANDMAN: HIS SEA STORIES

These stories give you a good picture of life on an old-time sailingvessel. When you want to look up some special point, this index willshow you the right page. 

 Albatross, 187-193

 Christmas, on shipboard, 121, 136

 Communication, 141-142, 144, 293

 Driftwood, 333-334

 Elephants, 160-169

 Equator, 122

 Fish, porpoise, 47-55; flying fish, 71, 76-84; shark, 107-119

 Food, 54, 84, 125, 133-136, 143

 Lighthouses, 219-221

 Ocean, 197-198; sounding, 145-151; seaweed, 64-73

 Selling and trading, 155, 245, 250-251

 Transportation: bullock carts, 159; sailing ships, 3, 32, 36-42, 45-46, 86-101, 128, 133, 143-144, 331-338

 Weather, 211-216; barometer, 193; storm, 7-30