" he said. "That is, it isn't chronic yet. I
didn't know you had it, either."

"Oh I haven't. But I was rather tired, and I wanted to be alone, and
so----"

"And so you took a chance. Well, you came at just the right time. I was
just about gettin' under way."

He rose, but she detained him. "Don't go," she begged. "When I said I
wanted to be alone I didn't mean it exactly. I meant I wanted to be away
from--some people. You are not one of them."

He was pleased, and showed it. "You're sure of that?" he asked.

"Of course. You know I am. Do sit down and talk. Talk about anything
except--well, except Bayport gossip and Fair Harbor squabbles and bills
and--oh, that sort of thing. Talk about something away from Bayport,
miles and miles away. I feel just now as if I should like to be--to be
on board a ship sailing ... sailing."

She smiled wistfully as she said it. The captain was seized with an
intense conviction that he should like to be with her on that same ship,
to sail on and on indefinitely. The kind of ship or its destination
would not matter in the least, the only essentials were that she and he
were to be on board, and ... Humph! His brain must be softening. Who
did he think he was: a young man again?--a George Kent? He came out of
the clouds.

"Yes," he observed, dryly, "I know. I get that same feelin' every once
in a while. I should rather like to walk a deck again, myself."

She understood instantly. That was one of the fascinations of this girl,
she always seemed to understand. A flash of pity came into her eyes.
Impulsively she laid a hand on his coat sleeve.

"I beg your pardon," she said. "I'm so sorry. I realize how hard it must
be for you, Cap'n Kendrick. A man who has been where you have been and
seen what you have seen.... Yes, and done what you have done."

He shrugged. "I haven't done much," he said.

"Oh, yes, you have. I have heard so many stories about you and your
ships and the way you have handled them. There was one story I remember,
a story about how your sailors mutinied and how you got them to go to
work again. I heard that years ago, when I was a girl at school. I have
never forgotten; it sounded so wonderful and romantic and--and far off."

He nodded. "It was far off," he said. "Away over in the South Seas. And
it was a good while ago, too, for I was in command of my first vessel,
and that's the time of all times when a man doesn't want mutiny or any
other setback. And I never h