d the
blades."

"That's it," assented Zenas Henry.

"An' that holds up your engine."

"Uh-huh," Zenas Henry agreed with the same bored inflection.

"An' that leaves you rockin' like a baby in a cradle 'til you can get
the wheel free."

"Uh-huh."

There was a moment of silence.

"It can't be much of a stunt tossin' round in a choppy sea like as if
you was a chip on the waves," commented Jan Eldridge with a
commiserating grin.

"'Tain't."

"What do you do when you find yourself in a fix like that?" he inquired
with interest.

"Do?" reiterated Zenas Henry. "What a question! What would any fool
do? There ain't no choice left you but to hang head downwards over the
stern of the boat an' claw the eel-grass off the wheel with a gaff."

Janoah burst into a derisive shout.

"Oh, my eye!" he exclaimed. "So that's the way you do it, eh? Don't
talk to me of motor-boats! A good old-fashioned skiff with a
leg-o'-mutton sail in her is good enough fur me. How 'bout you,
Willie?"

No reply was forthcoming.

"I say, Willie," repeated Jan in a louder tone, "that these new fangled
motor-boats, with their noise an' their smell, ain't no match fur a
good clean dory."

Willie came out of his trance just in time to catch the final clause of
the sentence.

"Who ever saw a clean dory in Wilton?"

Jan faltered, abashed.

"Well, anyhow," he persisted, "in my opinion, clean or not, a straight
wholesome smell of cod ain't to be mentioned in the same breath with a
mix-up of stale fish an' gasoline."

Zenas Henry bridled.

"You don't buy a motor-boat to smell of," he said tartly. "You seem to
forget it's to sail in."

"But if the eel-grass holds you hard an' fast in one spot most of the
time I don't see's you do much sailin'," taunted Jan. "'Pears to me
you're just adrift an' goin' nowheres a good part of the time."

"No, I ain't" snapped Zenas Henry with rising ire. "It's only
sometimes the thing gets spleeny. Most always--"

"Then it warn't you I saw pitchin' in the channel fur a couple of hours
yesterday afternoon," commented the tormentor.

"No. That is--let me think a minute," meditated Zenas Henry. "Yes, I
guess it was me, after all," he admitted with reluctant honesty. "The
tide brought in quite a batch of weeds, an' they washed up round the
boat before I could get out of their way; quicker'n a wink we were
neatly snarled up in 'em. Captain Jonas an' Captain Phineas tried to
get clear, but some