aptain, nodding his head, his big hand
stroking Ellen's flossy curls. "That's what brought me up. I want Tod,
and he won't go without Archie. Will ye give him to me?"

"My Archie!" cried Jane, dropping her work and staring straight at the
captain.

"Your Archie, Miss Jane, if that's the way you put it," and he stole a
look at Lucy. She was conscious of his glance, but she did not return
it; she merely continued listening as she twirled one of the rings on
her finger.

"Well, but, captain, isn't it very dangerous work? Aren't the men often
drowned?" protested Jane.

"Anything's dangerous 'bout salt water that's worth the doin'. I've
stuck to the pumps seventy-two hours at a time, but I'm here to tell
the tale."

"Have you talked to Archie?"

"No, but Tod has. They've fixed it up betwixt 'em. The boy's dead set
to go."

"Well, but isn't he too young?"

"Young or old, he's tough as a marline-spike--A1, and copper fastened
throughout. There ain't a better boatman on the beach. Been that way
ever since he was a boy. Won't do him a bit of harm to lead that kind
of life for a year or two. If he was mine it wouldn't take me a minute
to tell what I'd do."

Jane leaned back in her chair, her eyes on the crackling logs, and
began patting the carpet with her foot. Lucy became engrossed in a book
that lay on the table beside her. She didn't intend to take any part in
the discussion. If Jane wanted Archie to serve as a common sailor that
was Jane's business. Then again, it was, perhaps, just as well for a
number of reasons to have him under the captain's care. He might become
so fond of the sea as to want to follow it all his life.

"What do you think about it, Lucy?" asked Jane.

"Oh, I don't know anything about it. I don't really. I've lived so long
away from here I don't know what the young men are doing for a living.
He's always been fond of the sea, has he not, Captain Holt?"

"Allus," said the captain doggedly; "it's in his blood." Her answer
nettled him. "You ain't got no objections, have you, ma'am?" he asked,
looking straight at Lucy.

Lucy's color came and went. His tone offended her, especially before
Mrs. Dellenbaugh, who, although she spoke but seldom in public had a
tongue of her own when she chose to use it. She was not accustomed to
being spoken to in so brusque a way. She understood perfectly well the
captain's covert meaning, but she did not intend either to let him see
it or to lose her temper.