g before them with his hands in his
pockets.

"Bastianello says that old tub there is yours, and that if you had a
better head than you have you could caulk her and paint her white with a
red stripe and take foreigners to the Bath of Queen Giovanna in her on
fine days. Why do you not try it? Those boys are making her die an evil
death."

"Bastianello always has such thoughts!" laughed the sailor. "Why does he
not buy her of me and paint her himself? The paint would hold her
together another six months, I daresay."

"Give her to me," said Ruggiero. "I will give you half of what I earn
with her."

Black Rag looked at him and laughed, not believing that he was in
earnest. But Ruggiero slowly nodded his head as though to conclude a
bargain.

"I will sell her to you," said the sailor at last. "She belonged to that
blessed soul, my brother, who was drowned--health to us--to-day is
Saturday--and I never earned anything with her since she was mine. I
will sell her cheap."

"How much? I will give you thirty francs for her."

Bastianello stared at his brother, but he made no remark while the
bargain was being made, nor even when Ruggiero finally closed for fifty
francs, paid the money down and proceeded to take possession of the old
tub at once, to the infinite and forcibly expressed regret of the lads
who had been playing with her. Then the two brothers hauled her up upon
the sloping cement slip between the pier and the bathing houses, and
turned her over. The boys swam away, and Black Rag departed with his
money.

"What have you bought her for, Ruggiero?" asked Bastianello.

"She has copper nails," observed the other examining the bottom
carefully. "She is worth fifty francs. Your thought was good. To-morrow
she will be dry and we will caulk the seams, and the next day we will
paint her and then we can take foreigners to the Cape in her if we have
a chance and the signori do not go out. Lend a hand, Bastianello; we
must haul her up behind the boats."

Bastianello said nothing and the two strong men almost carried the old
tub to a convenient place for working at her.

"Do you want to do anything more to her to-night?" asked Bastianello.

"No."

"Then I will go up."

"Very well."

Ruggiero smiled as he spoke, for he knew that Bastianello was going to
try and get another glimpse of Teresina. The ladies would probably go to
drive and Teresina would be free until they came back.

He sat down on a boat near the