seemed to appreciate the joke. It
was midnight when he left the house, and went to the Juno to sleep in
her cabin. If he had gone home earlier in the evening, he might have
seen Captain Patterdale, who did him the honor to make a late call upon
him.

CHAPTER XV.

LAUD CAVENDISH TAKES CARE OF HIMSELF.

Donald did not sleep very well in the cabin of the Maud, not only
because his bed was very hard and uncomfortable, but because he was
troubled; and before morning he fully realized the truth of the saying,
in regard to certain persons, that "they choose darkness, because their
deeds are evil." He wished he had not consented to keep the secret of
either Captain Shivernock or Laud Cavendish, and was afraid he had
compromised himself by his silence. When he turned out in the morning,
he believed he had hardly slept a wink all night, though he had actually
slumbered over six hours; but a person who lies awake in the darkness,
especially if his thoughts are troublesome, lengthens minutes into
hours. But Donald welcomed the morning light when he awoke, and the
bright sun which streamed through the trunk ports. He went to the shop,
and for two hours before his men arrived worked on the tender of the
Maud.

The mast of the yacht was stepped during the forenoon, and after dinner
the rigger came to do his part of the work. Samuel Rodman was now so
much interested in the progress of the labor on the new yacht, that he
spent nearly all his time on board of her. The top mast, gaff, and boom
were all ready to go into their places, and the Maud looked as though
she was nearly completed. All the members of the Yacht Club were
impatient for her to be finished, for the next regatta had been
postponed a week, so that the Maud could take part in the affair; and
the club were to go on a cruise for ten days, after the race.

There was no little excitement in the club in relation to the Maud.
Donald had confidently asserted his belief, weeks before, that she would
outsail the Skylark, not as a mere boast, but as a matter of business.
His father had made an improvement upon the model of the Sea Foam, which
he was reasonably certain would give her the advantage. The young
boat-builder had also remedied a slight defect in the arrangement of
the centre-board in the Maud, had added a little to the size of the jib
and mainsail, and he hoped these alterations would tell in favor of the
new craft, while they would not take anything from he