hatchet, but some one borrowed the
hatchet for a few minutes, and Spivin continued the operation with his
knife. One of the tails being tough, and the knife blunt, the impatient
man used violence. Impatience and violence not unfrequently result in
damage. The tail gave way unexpectedly, and Spivin cut a deep gash in
his left hand. Cuts, gashes, and bruises are the frequent experience of
smacksmen. Spivin bound up the gash with a handkerchief, and went on
with his work.

Before their work was quite done, however, a gale, which had been
threatening from the nor'-west, set in with considerable force, and
rapidly increased, so that the packing of the last few trunks, and
stowing them into the hold, became a matter not only of difficulty but
of danger.

By that time the sky had clouded over, and the lantern in the rigging
alone gave light.

"It will blow harder," said Trevor to Billy as they stood under shelter
of the weather bulwarks holding on to the shrouds. "Does it never come
into your mind to think where we would all go to if the _Evening Star_
went down?"

"No, Luke. I can't say as it does. Somehow I never think of father's
smack goin' down."

"And yet," returned Luke in a meditative tone, "it may happen, you know,
any night. It's not six months since the _Raven_ went down, with all
hands, though she was as tight a craft as any in the fleet, and her
captain was a first-rate seaman, besides bein' steady."

"Ay, but then, you see," said Billy, "she was took by three heavy seas
one arter the other, and no vessel, you know, could stand that."

"No, not even the _Evening Star_ if she was took that fashion, an' we
never know when it's goin' to happen. I suspect, Billy, that the
psalm-singers, as Gunter calls 'em, has the best of it. They work as
well as any men in the fleet--sometimes I think better--an' then they're
always in such a jolly state o' mind! If good luck comes, they praise
God for it, an' if bad luck comes they praise God that it's no worse.
Whatever turns up they appear to be in a thankful state o' mind, and
that seems to me a deal better than growlin', swearin', and grumblin',
as so many of us do at what we can't change. What d'ee think, Billy?"

"Well, to tell 'ee the truth, Luke, I don't think about it at all--
anyhow, I've never thought about it till to-night."

"But it's worth thinkin' about, Billy?"

"That's true," returned the boy, who was of a naturally straightforward
dispos