was a severe blow
to the captain. He was too old to take command of another ship for new
owners, and he chafed at his enforced stay on land. He longed for the
sea, for nowhere else did he feel so much at home. His pride was hurt
as well. He felt keenly the humiliation, and he believed that his
neighbours laughed at him behind his back. Thus for years he brooded
over his troubles until they became a vital part of his very being, and
soured his former jolly disposition.

There was one redeeming feature, however, to Captain Josh, and that was
his intense sympathy for any unfortunate creature, whether man or
beast. Let any dumb brute be abused, and it aroused the captain to
intense indignation. And so when he found that most of the people in
Hillcrest were turned against Parson Dan's lad, simply because he was a
waif, he naturally took an interest in the boy, which increased the
more people talked. The climax to his interest was reached the day he
took Rod's part against Tom Dunker.

On this Saturday morning Captain Josh had tied the last string, and cut
off the ends close to the knot. He then glanced once more through the
window, and his eyes brightened as he saw the little lad he was
expecting not far from the house.

Rod was not walking very fast, for he was on new, and hitherto
forbidden ground, and, notwithstanding the invitation, he was not
altogether sure of the reception he would receive. He was a trim,
looking lad in his well-fitting suit, as clean and neat as Mrs. Royal's
hands could make it, while a large straw hat covered his curly hair.
He wore neither shoes nor stockings, and his feet and legs were as
brown as the sun could make them.

Captain Josh was at the shop door to receive him.

"Ye're late, lad," was his only greeting.

"I'm sorry, captain," was the reply, "but I had to go to the store for
grandma. Oh!" and he stopped short as his eyes rested upon the fine
full-rigged schooner sitting upon the work-bench.

"How d'ye like it?" the captain asked, delighted at Rod's interest.

"Great!" and the boy stepped cautiously forward, as if afraid that the
white sails were wings; to bear the wonderful thing away. "Who made
it?" he whispered.

"Oh, some fool."

"You?"

"What! d'ye call me a fool?" the captain roared, looking so fierce that
Rod shrank back a step.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean that. I only, I only----"

"I know, lad, I know," and the captain laughed heartily. "Ye didn't