avid. Janet came out of the narrow doorway and flung her arms
around the keeper's neck.

"Cap'n Davy, I've come off to be adopted! I had to stop downstairs to
make my room ready and pay Susan Jane two weeks in advance, but I've got
business with you now. Bring out a couple of chairs, Cap'n, this is
going to be a long watch."

David paused as he went upon the errand.

"The money is what sticks, Janet. Money atween me an' Billy is a
ticklish matter. Don't lay it up agin Susan Jane, girl, the conniverin'
in money ways an' the Holy Book is all that Susan Jane has, since she
was struck."

"It's all right, Cap'n David, if it were only _my_ money! And it soon
will be, Davy; it soon will be. I've just waked up to the fact that I
ought to be helping along, instead of hanging on Cap'n Billy. Seventeen,
and only just waking up! I've come over to the gold mine, Davy, and I'm
going to do some digging for myself."

David sighed and laughed together; it was a rare combination, and one
for which he was noted. Presently he came out with the chairs. The two
put their backs to the Light. David took out his pipe, and Janet,
bracing her feet against the railing and clasping her hands behind her
head, looked up at the stars. Next to Captain Billy, this man beside her
was her truest friend.

"Goin' t' help wait at some table?" asked David between long, heartsome
puffs.

"Nope."

"Maybe, washin'?"

"Nope."

"Anythin' in mind, special?"

"Yep."

"What?"

"I'm going up to the Hills and learn to paint pictures!"

"By gum!"

"Yes. I can at least see things as they are. All I shall have to do is
to learn to handle the brushes and mix the paint."

"By gum!"

"And, Cap'n David, I know what you all think. You think me a useless
kind of girl, willing enough to hang on Cap'n Billy and take all he can
give. And I know that you think him soft and, maybe, silly, because he
hasn't been sterner with me. But you're all wrong! Cap'n Daddy and I
haven't been wasting our time. We've got awfully close to each other
while we've lived alone and had only ourselves. I've been thinking a
long time of how I could help him best. I didn't want to come over
and--and--what shall I say?--well, plunder the city folks. That's what
every one is doing. Sometimes I'm sorry for them, the city folks. It
seems like we ought to treat them more as visitors, than as ships that
have been tossed up."

"Lord!" spluttered David through his smoke; "they know how