atter."

"But I really do not know how to feed babies. What was the use of
pretending that I do?"

"Is there--to get back to the point from which I started--is there any
subject that you do know anything about besides politics and polo
ponies?"

"I'm afraid not, J. J., except the yacht. I do know something about
her."

"Then," said Meldon, "we'll discuss her. I expect we'll come to an end
of her soon, but we can at all events decide where we'll go to-morrow."

The yacht turned out to be a more fruitful subject than Meldon
expected. The Major had made some alterations in her trim, which led
to an animated discussion. He also had a plan for changing her from a
cutter into a yawl, and Meldon was quite ready to argue out the points
of advantage and disadvantage in each rig. It was half-past eleven
o'clock before they parted for the night, and even then they had not
decided where to go next day.

CHAPTER IX.

It was the evening of the second day of the _Spindrift's_ cruise. The
wind, which had come fresh from the east in the morning, followed the
sun round in its course, blowing gently from the south at mid-day, and
breathing very faintly from the west in the evening. After sunset it
died away completely. The whole surface of the bay lay calm, save here
and there where some chance movement of the air ruffled a tiny patch of
water; or where, at the corners of the islands and in very narrow
channels, the inward drawing of the tide marked long, curved lines and
illusive circles on the oily sea. The _Spindrift_ was poised
motionless on the surface of the water, borne slowly, almost
imperceptibly, forward by the sweep of the tide. Her mainsail, boomed
out, hung in loose folds. The sheet, freed from all strain, was borne
down by its own weight, until the slack of it dipped in the water.
Terns and gulls, at lazy rest, floated close to the yacht's side. Long
rows of dark cormorants, perched on rocky points, strained their necks
and peered at her. Innumerable jelly-fish spread and sucked together
again their transparent bodies, reaching down and round about them with
purple feelers. Now and then some almost imperceptible breath of wind
swayed the yacht's boom slowly forward against the loose runner and the
stay, lifted the dripping sheet from the water, and half bellied the
sail. Then the _Spindrift_ would press forward, her spars creaking
slightly, tiny ripples playing round her bows, a double line of