one he had just bought, and surveyed his
purchase. He seemed on the whole well satisfied. It was certainly good
enough for the foreigners who liked to be pulled up to the cape on
summer evenings. She was rather easily upset, as Ruggiero had noticed,
but a couple of bags of pebbles in the right place would keep her steady
enough, and she had room for three or four people in the stern sheets
and for two men to pull. Not bad for fifty francs, thought Ruggiero. And
San Miniato had asked about going after crabs by torchlight. This would
be the very boat for the purpose, for getting about in and out of the
rocks on which the crabs swarm at night. Black Rag might have earned
money with her. But Black Rag was rather a worthless fellow, who drank
too much wine, played too much at the public lottery and wasted his
substance on trifles.

Ruggiero's purchase was much discussed that evening and all the next day
by the sailors of the Piccola Marina. Some agreed that he had done well,
and some said that he had made a mistake, but Ruggiero said nothing and
paid no attention to the gossips. On the next day and the day after that
he was at work before dawn with Bastianello, and Black Rag was very much
surprised at the trim appearance of his old boat when the brothers at
last put her into the water and pulled themselves round the little
harbour to see whether the seams were all tight. But he pretended to put
a good face on the matter, and explained that there were more rotten
planks in her than any one knew of and that only the nails below the
water line were copper after all, and he predicted a short life for
Number Fifty Seven, when Ruggiero renewed the old licence in the little
harbour office. Ruggiero, however, cared for none of these things, but
ballasted the tub properly with bags of pebbles and demonstrated to the
crowd that she was no longer easy to upset, inviting any one who pleased
to stand on the gunwale and try.

"But the ballast makes her heavy to pull," objected Black Rag, as he
looked on.

"If you had arms like the Children of the King," retorted the Cripple,
"you would not trouble yourself about a couple of hundredweight more or
less. But you have not. So you had better go and play three numbers at
the lottery, the day of the month, the number of the boat and any other
one that you like. In that way you may still make a little money if you
have luck. For you have made a bad bargain with the Children of the
King, and y