elp Captain Mayo instead of
hindering him?" asked the girl. Evidently her new composure startled her
father.

"Ain't you scared any more, Polly? You ain't losing your mind, are you?"

"No, I have it back again, I hope."

"Your daughter is setting you a good example, Captain Candage. Now let's
get down to business, sir! What's your sheathing on the ribs?"

"Inch and a half spruce, if I remember right."

"I take it she is ribbed about every twelve inches."

"Near's I remember."

"All right! Swarm forward here, the three of you, and have those tools
handy as I need 'em."

He had brought the hammer and chisel in his reefer pockets, and set at
work on the sheathing over his head, having picked by touch and sense
of locality a section which he considered to be nearly amidship. It
was blind effort, but he managed to knock away a few square feet of the
spruce boarding after a time.

"Hand me that saw, whoever has it."

A hand came fumbling to his in the dark and gave him the tool. He began
on one of the oak ribs, uncovered when the boarding had been removed.
It was difficult and tedious work, for he could use only the tip of the
saw, because the ribs were so close together. But he toiled on steadily,
and at last the sound of his diligence appeared to animate the others.
When he rested for a moment Captain Candage offered to help with the
sawing.

"I think I'll be obliged to do it alone, sir. You can't tell in the dark
where I have left off. However, I'm glad to see that you're coming back
to your senses," he added, a bit caustically.

The master of the _Polly_ received that rebuke with a meekness that
indicated a decided change of heart. "I reckon me and Otie and Dolph
have been acting out what you might call pretty pussylaminous, as I
heard a schoolmarm say once," confessed the skipper, struggling with the
big word. "But we three ain't as young as we was once, and I'll leave it
to you, sir, if this wasn't something that nobody had ever reckoned on."

"There's considerable novelty in it," said Mayo, in dry tones, running
his fingers over the rib to find the saw-scarf. The ache had gone out of
his arms, and he was ready to begin again.

"I'm sorry we yanked you into all this trouble," Can-dage went on. "And
on the other hand, I ain't so sorry! Because if you hadn't been along
with us we'd never have got out of this scrape."

"We haven't got out of it yet, Captain Candage."

"Well, we are making an almighty go