ad any trouble with my crews, before or
since, except then. But the water in our butts had gone rancid and we
put in at this island to refill. It was a pretty place, lazy and
sunshiny, like most of those South Sea corals, and the fo'mast hands got
ashore amongst the natives, drinkin' palm wine and traders' gin, and
they didn't want to put to sea as soon as the mates and I did."

"But you made them?"

"Well, I--er--sort of coaxed 'em into it."

"Tell me about it, please."

"Oh, there isn't anything to----"

"Please."

So Sears began to spin the yarn. And from that she led him into another
and then another. They drifted through the South Seas to the East
Indies, and from there to Bombay, and then to Hong Kong, and to
Mauritious, from the beaches of which came the marvelous sea shells that
Sarah Macomber had in the box in her parlor closet. They voyaged through
the Arabian Sea, with the parched desert shores shimmering in the white
hot sun. They turned north, saw the sperm whales and the great squid and
the floating bergs.... And at last they drifted back to Bayport and the
captain looked at his watch.

"Heavens and earth!" he exclaimed. "It's almost four o'clock. I believe
I've talked steady for pretty nearly an hour. I'm ashamed. Are you
awake, Elizabeth? I hope, for your sake, you've been takin' a nap."

She did not answer at once. Then she breathed deeply. "I don't know what
I have been doing--really doing," she said. "I suppose I have been
sitting right here in this old summer-house. But I _feel_ as if I had
been around the world. I wanted to sail and sail.... I said so, didn't
I? Well, I have. Thank you, Cap'n Kendrick."

He rose from the bench.

"A man gets garrulous in his old age," he observed. "But I didn't think
I was as old as that--just yet. The talkin' disease must be catchin',
and I've lived with Judah Cahoon quite a while now."

She laughed. "If I had as much to talk about--worth while talking
about--as you have," she declared, "I should never want to stop. Well, I
must be getting back to the Fair Harbor--and the squabbles."

"Too bad. Can I help you with 'em?"

"No, I'm afraid not. They're not big enough for you."

They turned to the door. She spoke again.

"You are going to drive to Orham to-morrow afternoon?" she asked.

"Eh? Oh, yes. The Foam Flake and I will make the voyage--if we have
luck."

"And you are going--alone?"

"Yes. Judah thinks I shouldn't. Probably he thinks the Foa