's, ben't they? Hitch down my coat off the peg
there; feel the cloth of it; take it between finger and thumb.
Ay, I don't live upon air, nor keep house an' fixtures upon nothin'
at all. There--if you want more proof!" He dived a hand into his
trouser-pocket, and held out a golden coin under my nose.
"There! that very dollar came from the island, and I'm offerin' you
the fellows to it by the thousand. Why? says you. Because, says I,
you're a good lad, and I've took a fancy to see you in Parlyment.
That's why. An' it's no return I'm askin' you, but just to believe!"

He made for the back door again, and opened it, letting in the
sunlight; but the sunlight fell in two slanting rays, one on either
side of a dark object which all but filled the entrance, blocking out
my view of the back court beyond. It was the stern of a tall boat.

The boat, in fact, filled the small back court, leaving an alley-way
scarcely more than two feet wide along either party-wall. She rested
on the stocks, about three-parts finished, in shape very like a
whaleboat, and in measurement--so Captain Coffin informed me, with a
proprietary wave of the hand--some twenty-nix feet over all, with a
beam of nine feet six inches amidships. And even to a boy's eye she
showed herself a pretty model, though (as I say) unfinished, with a
foot and more of her ribs standing up bare and awaiting the top
strakes.

"Designed her myself, Brooks. Eh, but your friend Dan'l Coffin has
an eye for the shape of a boat, though no hand at pencilling, nor
what you might call the cabinet-making part of the job. There's a
young carpenter lives up the court here--a cleverish fellow.
I got him to help me over the niceties, you understand; but on my
lines, lad. Climb up and cast your eye over the well I've put in
her. That's for the treasure; and there'll be side-lockers round the
stern-sheets, and a locker forward big enough to hold a man.
The fellow don't guess their meanin', an' I don't let him guess.
He thinks they're for air-compartments, to keep her buoyant; says
she'll need more ballast than I've allowed her, and wants to know
what sense there is in buildin' a boat so floatey. _We'll_ ballast
her, Brooks; all in good time. We'll ship her aboard the Kingston
packet, bein' of a size that she'll carry comfortable as deck-cargo;
and soon as we get to Kingstown we'll--"

"Avast there, cap'n!" interrupted a cheerful voice; and I glanced up,
to see a sandy-haired