.

And nobody ever knew whether Captain Sol meant to be captured by the
Spaniards, that last time, or not.

And that's all.

THE RACE STORY

Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and
beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great
ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep
hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go
down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way.
And because ships had come there for a great many years and all the
sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the
ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the
sidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago.

The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned the
ships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing from
that wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed their
office to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston.

A long time ago the brig _Industry_ lay at that wharf in Boston, and she
was all ready to sail for far countries. And there was a ship that was
named the _Augusta Ramsay_ lying at the next wharf, and she was all
ready to sail, too, and she was going to the same country that the
_Industry_ was going to. Captain Sol had been on the _Industry_ for a
long time, seeing that the cargo was stowed as well as it could be
stowed, and trying to hurry the lumpers. But he couldn't make them hurry
very much.

Captain Sol wanted to get the _Industry_ away before the _Augusta
Ramsay_ sailed, so as to gain as much time as he could. For, in those
days, the owners of ships couldn't telegraph to far countries to find
out what they had to sell and what they wanted to buy, but the captains
of their ships had to find out those things when the ships got there.
And the captains had to sell the things they brought for as much as they
could get for them, and they had to buy what they wanted to carry back
for as low a price as they could.

So it made a good deal of difference whether a ship got there first or
not; for the ship that got there first could sell the things that she
brought at a higher price, and could buy the things to bring back for a
lower price than a ship that got there a little later. So Captain Sol
knew that it would be a race, for the whole voyage, between the
_Industry_ and the _