ed of the same thing
before, and as far as I could tell, the voice I heard first
belonged to the one who wasn't quite so cheerful as the
other,--the one who was Jim when one knew which he was.

"Does Mamie know?" Jim asked.

"Not yet," Jack answered quietly. He was at the wheel. "I mean to
tell her next time we get home."

"All right."

That was all I heard, because I didn't care to stand there
listening while they were talking about their own affairs; so I
went aft to look into the binnacle, and I told the one at the
wheel to keep her so as long as she had way on her, for I thought
the wind would back up again before long, and there was land to
leeward. When he answered, his voice, somehow, didn't sound like
the cheerful one. Perhaps his brother had relieved the wheel
while they had been speaking, but what I had heard set me
wondering which of them it was that had a girl at home. There's
lots of time for wondering on a schooner in fair weather.

After that I thought I noticed that the two brothers were more
silent when they were together. Perhaps they guessed that I had
overheard something that night, and kept quiet when I was about.
Some men would have amused themselves by trying to chaff them
separately about the girl at home, and I suppose whichever one it
was would have let the cat out of the bag if I had done that.
But, somehow, I didn't like to. Yes, I was thinking of getting
married myself at that time, so I had a sort of fellow-feeling
for whichever one it was, that made me not want to chaff him.

They didn't talk much, it seemed to me; but in fair weather, when
there was nothing to do at night, and one was steering, the other
was everlastingly hanging round as if he were waiting to relieve
the wheel, though he might have been enjoying a quiet nap for all
I cared in such weather. Or else, when one was taking his turn at
the lookout, the other would be sitting on an anchor beside him.
One kept near the other, at night more than in the daytime. I
noticed that. They were fond of sitting on that anchor, and they
generally tucked away their pipes under it, for the _Helen B._
was a dry boat in most weather, and like most fore-and-afters was
better on a wind than going free. With a beam sea we sometimes
shipped a little water aft. We were by the stern, anyhow, on that
voyage, and that is one reason why we lost the man.

We fell in with a southerly gale, south-east at first; and then
the barometer began to f