"For what?" I asked.

"Brass buttons," says he.

'Twas now that the cat came out of the bag. Brass buttons? 'Twas the
same as saying constables. This extraordinary undertaking was then a
precaution against the accident of arrest. 'Twas inspired, no doubt,
by the temper of that gray visitor with whom my uncle had dealt over
the table in a fashion so surprising. I wondered again concerning that
amazing broil, but to no purpose; 'twas 'beyond my wisdom and
ingenuity to involve these opposite natures in a crime that might make
each tolerable to the other and advantage them both. 'Twas plain, at
any rate, that my uncle stood in jeopardy, and that of no trivial
sort: else never would he have employed his scant savings upon the
hull of the _Shining Light_. It grieved me to know it. 'Twas most sad
and most perplexing. 'Twas most aggravating, too: for I must put no
questions, but accept, in cheerful serenity, the revelations he would
indulge me with, and be content with that.

"An' if ye sees so much as a single brass button comin' ashore," says
he, "ye'll give me a hail, will ye not, whereever I is?"

This I would do.

"Ye never can tell," he added, sadly, "what's in the wind."

"I'm never allowed t' know," said I.

He was quick to catch the complaint. "Ye're growin' up, Dannie," he
observed; "isn't you, lad?"

I fancied I was already grown.

"Ah, well!" says he; "they'll come a time, lad, God help ye! when
ye'll know."

"I wisht 'twould hasten," said I.

"I wisht 'twould never come at all," said he.

'Twas disquieting....

* * * * *

Work on the _Shining Light_ went forward apace and with right good
effect. 'Twas not long--it might be a fortnight--before her hull was
as sound as rotten plank could be made with gingerly calking. 'Twas
indeed a delicate task to tap the timbers of her: my uncle must
sometimes pause for anxious debate upon the wisdom of venturing a
stout blow. But copper-painted below the water-line, adorned above,
she made a brave showing at anchor, whatever she might do at sea; and
there was nothing for it, as my uncle said, but to have faith, which
would do well enough: for faith, says he, could move mountains. When
she had been gone over fore and aft, aloft and below, in my uncle's
painstaking way--when she had been pumped and ballasted and cleared of
litter and swabbed down and fitted with a new suit of sails--she so
won upon our confidence that n