y dock and let Parker here overhaul
your runnin' riggin' and get you fit for sea. That's what you've got to
do."

"I'm fit and ready for the sea I'm goin' to sail," was the answer. His
eyes wandered from his son to Mrs. Coffin. For an instant he seemed
puzzled. Then he said:

"'Evenin', Keziah. I don't know why you're here, but--"

"I heard that Grace was alone and that you was sick, Eben. So I come
right down, to help if I could."

"Thank ye. You're a good-hearted woman, Keziah, even though you
ain't seen the true light yet. And you're housekeeper for that hired
priest--a--a--" He paused, and a troubled look came over his face.

"What is it, dad?" asked Nat.

"I--I--Where's Gracie? She's here, ain't she?"

"Yes, uncle, I'm here. Here I am," said the girl. His fingers groped for
her hand and seized it.

"Yes, yes, you're here," murmured Captain Eben. "I--I--for a minute or
so, I--I had an awful dream about you, Gracie. I dreamed--Never mind.
Doc, answer me this now, true and honest, man to man: Can you keep me
here for just a little spell longer? Can you? Try! Ten minutes, say. Can
you?"

"Of course I can. Cap'n Hammond, what are you--"

"I know. That's all right. But I ain't a young one to be petted and lied
to. I'm a man. I've sailed ships. I've been on blue water. I'm goin' to
make port pretty soon, and I know it, but I want to get my decks clear
fust, if I can. Gracie, stand still. Nat, run alongside where I can see
you plainer. Keziah, you and the doctor stay where you be. I want you to
witness this."

"Cap'n," protested Dr. Parker, "if I were you I wouldn't--"

"Belay! Silence there, for'ard! Nat, you're my boy, ain't you? You set
some store by the old man, hey?"

"I--I guess I do, dad."

"Yes, I guess you do, too. You've been a pretty good boy; stubborn
and pig-headed sometimes, but, take you by and large, pretty good. And
Gracie, you've been a mighty good girl. Never done nothin' I wouldn't
like, nothin' mean nor underhand nor--"

"Hush, uncle! Hush! Please hush!"

"Well, you ain't; so why should I hush? In this--this dream I had, seems
'sif you--seems as if a man come to me and said that you was--It WAS a
dream, wa'n't it?"

He tried to rise. Nat and the doctor started forward. Grace shrank back.

"Of course it was, cap'n," said the doctor briskly. "Now you mustn't
fret yourself in this way. Just lie still and--"

"Belay, I tell you. Yes, I guess 'twas a dream. It had to be, but 'twas