t
smile that caused the old man to stand regarding him more intently.

"We'll sen' her this'n of the sea. You reckon hit looks like the ocean
whar the ships go a-sailin' to t'othah side o' the world?" He held it in
his slender fingers and eyed it critically.

"How did you come to try to make a picture of the sea when you never saw
it?"

"Do' know. I feel like I done seed th' ocean when I'm settin' thar on
the rock an' them white, big clouds go a-sailin' far--far, like they're
goin' to anothah world an' hain't quite touchin' this'n."

"I wondered why you had your ship so high above the sea."

"I don't guess hit's a very good'n," said the child, ruefully, clinging
to the scrap of paper with reluctant grasp. "You reckon she'd keer fer
this'n?"

"I reckon she'd care for anything you made. Give it to me, and I'll send
it to her."

"She tol' me the sea, hit war blue, an' I can't make hit right blue an'
soft like she said. That thar blue pencil, hit's too slick. I can't make
hit stay on the papah."

"What are these mounds here on either side of the sea?"

"Them's mountains."

"But why did you put mountains in the sea?" The boy looked with wide
eyes dreamily past the two men so attentively regarding him.

"I--I reckon I jes' put 'em thar fer to look like the sea hit war on the
world. I don't guess the'd be no ocean nor no world 'thout the' war
mountains fer to hold everything whar hit belongs at."

"I shall bring you a box of paints to-morrow if the nurse will allow you
to have them. I'll provide an oilcloth to spread around so he won't
throw paint over your nice clean bed," he said to the pleasant-faced
young woman.

"That's all right, Doctor," she said.

"Then you can make the blue stay on, and you can make the ocean with
real water, and real blue for the sky and the sea."

The child's eyes glowed. He pulled David down and held him with his arm
about his neck, and whispered in his ear, and what he said was:--

"When they're a-pullin' on me to git my hade straight an' my back right,
I jes' think 'bout the far--far-away sea, with the ships a-sailin' an'
how hit look, an' hit don't hurt so much. I kin b'ar hit a heap bettah.
When you comin' back, brothah David?"

"Does it hurt you very much, Hoyle?"

"I reckon hit have to hurt," said the child, with fatalistic
resignation. "I don't guess he'd hurt me 'thout he had to." He released
David slowly, then pulled him down again. "Don't tell him I 'lowed hit
hurt