e, Mister," he continued,
after thinking for a minute, "how long do you reckon it would take you
to fix up that concarn of yours?"

"Oh, not very long," answered Cunningham. "The very roughest of
workmanship would do, so long as it was strong. I dare say Chips and I
could put it together in--well--say four days."

"Four days," repeated the skipper; "four days. Then I reckon you better
go ahead straight away; and turn it out as quick as ever you can, for
this here ca'm looks as though it meant to last a goodish while yet.
The glass is high an' steady, with an upward tendency, if anything, and
I don't see no sign of wind anywheres about."

Within an hour Cunningham and Chips were hard at work upon the
contrivance for circumventing the "ca'ms", and before knocking-off time
they had got on deck all the timber they required, and some of it sawn
to its proper length. The next day saw the completion of the cutting,
sawing, and planing; and then came a fresh westerly breeze which enabled
us to lay up within about two points of our course for the next five
days, during which Cunningham completed his work, all but the bolting on
of the fins, which could be done in about ten minutes. Then the wind
gradually veered until we were not only enabled to lay our course, but
had it a couple of points free, when, the wind being light, our big
jack-yard gaff-topsail came into play with magnificent effect, pushing
the little hooker along at about six knots, when but for it she would
scarcely have done four. And finally it fell calm again, and the
schooner lost steerage way altogether. There was again every sign that
the calm was likely to be prolonged--in fact, we were in the latitudes
of the "Doldrums", or calms that occur just to the north and south of
the Trade winds, where, as on the Line, the calms sometimes last for
weeks at a stretch. It was therefore an excellent opportunity to test
Cunningham's contrivance, and we accordingly proceeded to bolt it up and
fix it in position. It was rather an awkward and cumbersome
arrangement, demanding the united strength of all hands to get it over
the side, and it took us a full hour to get both parts fixed firmly and
to Cunningham's satisfaction. But it had not been in position five
minutes before we saw that it was going to prove a success; for not only
did it serve to steady the little vessel, and ease her rolling to a
considerable extent, but she immediately began to gather way, and