ate lurched along through the mingled storms, mastless,
rudderless, pilotless, priestless, and everybody wondered which would
live the longer, the ship or the storm.

And then Mamise sneezed. And the tiny at-choo! frightened her to the
soul of her soul. It frightened the riveting-crew as well. The plague
had come among them.

"Drop them tongs and go home!" said Sutton.

"I've got to help finish my ship," Mamise pleaded.

"Go home, I tell you."

"But she's to be launched day after to-morrow and I've got to christen
her."

"Go home or I'll carry you," said Sutton, and he advanced on her. She
dropped her tongs and ran through the gusty rain, across the yard, out
of the gate, and down the muddy paths as if a wolf pursued.

She flung into her cottage, lighted the fires, heated water, drank a
quart of it, took quinine, and crept into her bed. Her tremors shook
the covers off. Sweat rained out of her pores and turned to ice-water
with the following ague.

The doctor came. Sutton had gone for him and threatened to beat him up
if he delayed. The doctor had nothing to give her but orders to stay
in bed and wait. Davidge came, and Abbie, and they tried to pretend
that they were not in a worse panic than Mamise.

There were no nurses to be spared and Abbie was installed. In spite of
her malministrations or because of them, Mamise grew better. She
stayed in bed all that day and the next, and when the morning of the
launching dawned, she felt so well that Abbie could not prevent her
from getting up and putting on her clothes.

She was to be woman again to-day and to wear the most fashionable gown
in her wardrobe and the least masculine hat.

She felt a trifle giddy as she dressed, but she told Abbie that she
never felt better. Her only alarm was the difficulty in hooking her
frock at the waist. Abbie fought them together with all her might and
main.

"If being a workman is going to take away my waistline, here's where I
quit work," said Mamise. "As Mr. Dooley says, I'm a pathrite, but I'm
no bigot."

Davidge had told her to keep to her room. He had telephoned to Polly
Widdicombe to come down and christen the ship. Polly was delayed and
Davidge was frantic. In fact, the Widdicombe motor ran off the road
into a slough of despond, and Polly did not arrive until after the
ship was launched from the ways and the foolhardy Mamise was in the
hospital.

When Davidge saw Mamise climbing the steps to the launching-platform