vessel would bring, for you two dear ones, far more than I wanted it
for myself."

"Then don't say you _wanted_ it, for that does not sound hopeful,"
Mrs. Seaford said.

"No, say you _want_ it for us, for that sounds as if it were coming,"
Sprite said, "and I'm sure it will come, only it's delayed."

He summoned up a smile for the child who was endeavoring to cheer
him.

"I surely can truthfully say, 'I want it for you'," he said.

"I have ventured all that I had on that ship's cargo, because I
believed it was sure to bring back a little fortune that would enable
me to give greater comfort to your mother, Sprite, and you."

"Well, it's coming! It's coming! I know it is. I saw the golden ship
last night in my dreams, and I sprang up and looked from the window,
and the moonlight was making a bright, glittering path on the waves,
just where, in my dream, the ship had been."

She had left the Captain's side to skip and dance about in her
excitement, but now she came softly back to lean against him, as he
sat in his big chair.

She laid her cheek against his a second, then looking into his kindly
eyes, she said:

"It is stormy to-night, and it may storm to-morrow, but when it
clears, I know, oh, I just _know_ the ship will come in."

It was later than Sprite usually sat up, and the Captain pointed to
the clock.

"It's late even for a cheerful little prophet to be up," he said, and
Sprite danced away to her tiny chamber, happy in the thought that she
had really cheered them. The next day the storm continued, but at
night the gale diminished, and on the following day the sun rose
bright, and golden, giving promise of a fine day.

Sprite ran out onto the beach.

She looked far out across the dancing waves, to the horizon, where
plainly she could see the sails of incoming vessels.

Was either one of these distant vessels the one for which the Captain
was so eagerly looking?

"They all look alike 'way off there!" she murmured, but a moment later
she whispered in disgust:

"What a goosie I am! Those vessels have only one sail! They're neither
of them ships. Who'd think I was a Captain's daughter?"

Still she stood scanning the line where the sky and ocean met. At any
moment a big ship might come in sight, and she thought how quickly she
would run to tell the news. Then she hesitated.

No, she would not hasten to tell it, for it might indeed be a ship,
and yet not the one for which the Captain had long been