be very hard to get her into the water again.

When the anchor chain was pulled in enough, they fastened it and went to
the stern and down one of the great ropes that held the _Industry_ to
the wharf. They went down, half sliding and half letting themselves down
by their hands, and Captain Jacob and the mate and all the men that were
on the ship went down that way. They all had been sailors, and a sailor
has to learn to do such things and not to be afraid. And they all
splashed into the water that was on the top of the wharf. Then they let
out the ropes from that end, but they didn't let them go. And the
_Industry_ lay out in the river, at anchor, about five fathoms from the
end of the wharf. A fathom is six feet, and sailors generally measure
distances in fathoms instead of in feet.

As soon as Captain Jacob had got to the wharf he yelled to the men and
waved his hand to them, for he was afraid that they could not hear him
if he tried to tell them anything. And he started very carefully across
the wharf, holding on to anything he could get hold of, and all the men
followed him. It was very hard work and very dangerous, too, going about
on top of the wharf, for the water was nearly up to the men's knees, and
it was all wavy. And Captain Jacob led the way to the office and opened
the door and they all went in.

As soon as they were inside, they began taking all the things that were
piled up in that great room that had the nice smell, and they carried
them up stairs. They didn't wait to be told what to do, for they knew
well enough that Captain Jacob was afraid that the tide might rise so
high that the floor of that room and of the office would be covered
with water and all the pretty things would be wet and spoiled. Of
course, water wouldn't spoil the china and such things, but it would
spoil the shawls and the silks and the tea and the spices. So they
worked hard until they had all the things up stairs.

And, by that time, the water was beginning to come in at the door and to
creep along over the floor; and Captain Jacob and the mate and all the
men went outside, and stood where they were sheltered from the wind, and
they watched the river, that stretched out very wide indeed, and they
watched the things that were being driven up on its surface by the wind,
and they watched the _Industry_.

They were all standing in the water, but they didn't know it. And they
saw all sorts of things going up the river, with the win