Besides,
they've bin what they call so lucky in past years that they thought, I
fancy, there was no fear o' their luck departin'."

"But I was not thinking of the owners, brother; I was thinking of the
consequences to yourself."

"Why, as to that, Molly, as I've lost my ship, I'm pretty safe to lose
my situation; for, from what I know of the owners, they are sure to lay
all the blame they can upon my shoulders, so that I won't find it easy
to get another ship. Worse than all, I had made a little private
adventure of my own, which was very successful, and the result o' which
I was bringin' home in gold-dust; and now every nugget o' that is at the
bottom o' the sea. So you see, Molly, it's loss an' disaster
everywhere--nothin' but a black horizon all round."

Jeff glanced quickly at Miss Millet. This seemed to bear somewhat on
their recent discussions. Miss Millet as quickly returned the glance.

"I know what you are thinking, Jeff," she said, with an intelligent
look.

"Well, auntie," returned the youth, "it does seem hard to think that any
good can come out of all this--doesn't it?"

"Young man," said the captain, regarding Jeff with an almost stern look,
"if a savage were taken into a factory and shown the whirling wheels and
bands and rollers working in all directions, and saw filthy old rags
boiled and mixed up with grass and evil-smelling substances, and torn to
shreds and reduced to pulp in the midst of dirt and clattering noise and
apparent confusion; and if that savage were to say, `Surely nothin' good
can come out of all this!' wouldn't you--knowin' that great rolls of
fair and spotless paper were to come out of it--pronounce that savage a
fool, or, at least, a presumptuous fellow?"

"True, captain; I accept the rebuke," said Jeff, with a short laugh and
a swift glance at Rose, who, however, was gazing demurely at her
tea-cup, as if lost in the contemplation of its pattern. Possibly she
was thinking of the absurdity of taking tea at all at such an hour!

"Well, then, Jeff," continued the captain, "don't you go and judge
unfinished work. Perfect men and women are, in this world, only in
process of manufacture. When you see them finished, you'll be better
able to judge of the process."

Jeff did not quite agree with his friend; for, gazing at Rose, he could
not help feeling that at least one woman had, to his mind, been almost
perfectly finished even here! However, he said nothing.

At this poi