y'd let me."

"Well, run and ask them," said he, rolling up his knitting and stuffing
it under the cushion of his chair, "and I'll go and look at that boat
right away."

So Corette ran home to her father and mother and told them all about
the matter. They listened with great interest, and her father said:

"Well now, our little girl is not looking quite as well as usual. I
have noticed that she is a little pale. A sea-trip might be the very
thing for her."

"I think it would do her a great deal of good," said her mother, "and
as to that Reformed Pirate, she'd be just as safe with him as if she
was on dry land."

So it was agreed that Corette should go. Her father and mother were
always remarkably kind.

The Reformed Pirate was perfectly delighted when he heard this, and he
went hard to work to get his little vessel ready. To sail again on the
ocean seemed to him the greatest of earthly joys, and as he was to do
it for the benefit of a good little girl, it was all perfectly right
and proper.

When they started off, the next day but one, all the people who lived
near enough, came down to see them off. Just as they were about to
start, the Reformed Pirate said:

"Hello! I wonder if I hadn't better run back to the house and get my
sword! I only wear the empty scabbard now, but it might be safer, on a
trip like this, to take the sword along."

So he ran back and got it, and then he pushed off amid the shouts of
all the good people on the beach.

The boat was quite a good-sized one, and it had a cabin and everything
neat and comfortable. The Reformed Pirate managed it beautifully, all
by himself, and Corette sat in the stern and watched the waves, and the
sky, and the sea-birds, and was very happy indeed.

As for her companion, he was in a state of ecstasy. As the breeze
freshened, the sails filled, and the vessel went dashing over the
waves, he laughed and joked, and sang snatches of old sea-songs, and
was the jolliest man afloat.

[Illustration: THE REFORMED PIRATE IS THE JOLLIEST MAN AFLOAT]

After a while, as they went thus sailing merrily along, a distant ship
appeared in sight. The moment his eyes fell upon it, a sudden change
came over the Reformed Pirate. He sprang to his feet and, with his hand
still upon the helm, he leaned forward and gazed at the ship. He gazed
and he gazed, and he gazed without saying a word. Corette spoke to him
several times, but he answered not. And as he gazed he moved the he