as it was
on deck, out in the air, it burst into flames.

Captain Solomon had come up. "Heave it overboard!" he cried. And four
sailors took hold of it and heaved it over the side into the water. The
_Industry_ was sailing pretty fast and quickly left it astern, where it
floated, burning, for a few minutes; then, as the water soaked into the
bale, it got heavier, and sank, and the sailors saw the light go out,
suddenly.

[Illustration]

Captain Solomon drew a long breath. "Put her on her course again, Mr.
Steele," he said to the mate. "We won't lose any more time. You can have
this mess cleared up in the morning."

And the sailors jumped for the ropes, although they were pretty tired,
and they swung the yards around, two at a time, with a chanty for each.
The _Industry_ was sailing away for India again. And, the next day they
cleared the smoke out of the hold, and they stowed the cargo that had
been taken out in the night, and they put on the hatch and fastened it.

And that's all.

THE PORPOISE 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 river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been and
always will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of a
city from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, for
it is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grown
up with weeds and grass.

Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed away from the
wharf and out into the great ocean on a voyage to India. And she had
been gone from the wide river three or four days, and she was well out
into the ocean and no land was in sight, but only water and once in a
while another ship. But they didn't see ships as often as they had at
first, and it was good weather and the wind was fair, so that there
wasn't anything much for the sailors to do. The mates kept them as busy
as they