t any more storms on yer voyage
than is good fur ye."

That night Janet lay wide-eyed and sleepless upon her mother's bed. Her
fancy wandered far and her young blood coursed hotly through her veins;
but always she came trustfully back to the thought of Billy's patient
love and courage; and it gave her heart to face the future, whatever it
might be.

CHAPTER XII

The master of Bluff Head had the disconcerting impression borne in upon
him that the getting ready for winter at Quinton had a moral and
spiritual significance, as well as a physical one. He felt a cold
exclusion round about him, as if the good people did not quite know what
to do with him. He belonged to the summer. For him and others of his
world they had braced for action and thawed out to the extent of making
him feel he was not intruding, while occupying his own house. But they
resented his prolonged stay and necessary infringement upon their
well-earned liberty. Not that Devant imposed his presence upon them--he
rigidly observed a decent dignity--and he was more than willing to pay a
high price for any service he required; but James B., while accepting
large wages, fretted under the necessity of holding to a sure thing,
while a vague possibility lay outside.

James B. had learned, in his secret way, that Captain Billy had been
told, when he went for the physical examination at Bay End in
September, that his heart wasn't up to the requirement. A lesser man
would have been dropped from government duty with such a handicap as
that, but the physician, knowing Billy and his steady life and good
record, passed him for another year.

James B., like a vulture, had been hoping for a place on the crew for
many a day. The hope gave an excuse for idleness. Eliza Jane knew
Billy's symptoms and was willing to countenance James B.'s indifference
to other business propositions of a steady nature, while that
possibility of the crew was apparent. However, there was no reason why
James B. should not turn a penny in a temporary way at Bluff Head, while
waiting; and that Eliza Jane insisted upon.

"But," sighed James B. as Mr. Devant stayed on, "if he would only go,
then like as not Eliza Jane would let up on me 'bout laborin' while I'm
waitin'."

This state of affairs became known to Janet through the tactless remarks
of Mark Tapkins. She went at once to Billy to find out exactly what the
doctor had said. Billy, from the highest moral position, prevaricated