m of--of how terribly true that
is," I stumbled along. "Is he on deck?" For, oh, if I could only get to
see him five minutes alone!

"No, he's unusually lazy this morning; but I've called, him, the old
dear!"

A chill crept up my spine--crept up, crept down, and then criss-crossed.
But she must know of her mistake before we had gone so far that putting
me ashore would be a serious inconvenience--for I knew he would put me
ashore at the nearest point, if not, indeed, set me adrift in an open
boat. Therefore I suggested:

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to call him again? It's rather important!"

"Oh, you think we shouldn't have gone out in a storm like this? I've
been dreadfully uneasy!"

"No danger at all," I declared, with affected indifference, adding: "The
weather isn't half as rough as 'the old dear' will be, take my word for
it!"

A shadow of mystification passed over her wonderful face, yet she smiled
with well-bred tolerance, saying:

"You are quite droll."

"Drollery is the brother of good fellowship," I replied, helping her
across the reeling cabin. As I had feared, she went directly to my room
where the door had swung back showing an empty bunk.

"Why, he's up, after all," she glanced over her shoulder at me.

"I believe he is," I idiotically affirmed.

"But where?"--this more to herself.

"Hiding, maybe," I ventured, taking a facetious squint about.

"Hiding?" she asked, in mild surprise.

"Er--playing a trick on us! He's a funny old dog at tricks!"

"Funny old dog?" She drew slightly away from me. "Do you mean my father,
Mr.--er?"

"Jack," I prompted, more than ever embarrassed and wishing the ocean
would come up and swallow me; for I realized, alas, that my gods, by
whom I was reasonably well remembered in so far as concerned physique,
had been shamelessly remiss in their bestowal of brains.

"Jack?" she slowly repeated. "What an odd name!"

This made me feel queer.

"Where do you live," I asked, "that you think it's an odd name? The
States are crawling with Jacks! It's even the Democratic emblem!"

Her perplexity was fast approaching alarm when we heard a muffled report
above, followed by a trembling of the yacht. Someone called an order
that sounded far away in the wind.

"Hold tight," I said, "while I see if anything's wrong!"

But I did not leave her side, knowing exactly what had happened. We had
snapped our mainsheet, that was all; letting the boom swing out and
putting us in