oke became black, and the good old _Snowbird_ shook herself. I was
tickled to see how a crew of chaps used to count seconds in racing were
handling her. She was moving, the smoke pouring thicker and thicker from
her funnel, and the screw began to churn hard. Then her sharp bowsprit
turned around a little, till it was aimed at that cleft between the
rocks. She gathered speed and struck the billowing seas outside and
turned a bit. Then the big sails began to rise, as did the jibs, and I
saw a man run out to the end of the bowsprit as a thick white rope ran up
to the fore topmast head and broke out into a fleecy white cloud of silk.
Then, under the great balloon jib topsail my little ship flew off like a
scared bird and disappeared behind the edges of the cliffs.

"Byes, did yer ever see the like o' that?" shouted an old fisherman,
enthusiastically. "My, but Sammy's a lucky dog ter be gettin' sich a
sail. I'd give a quintal fer the chance."

I must say that I was pleased with this expert appreciation, and began to
feel better.

"But why didn't we send the doctor on her?" I suddenly asked. "He would
have been attended to sooner. We could have taken him with us."

"He wouldn't have gone," said Helen, whose cheeks had now become red with
excitement. "He would never leave until some one came to take his place.
He thinks he can still help that child of Frenchy's."

So after a time we returned to the house we had thought we were seeing
the last of, and it seemed very different, having been dismantled of many
things which were now lying on the dock.

Helen sat down for a moment, putting her elbows on the table and resting
her face on her hands. So of course I went to her, and stroked her head,
and she looked at me with eyes that were full of tears.

"I'm ashamed," she said. "At first I thought just as you did. I was sure
he had been drinking. And he seemed so awfully rude when he motioned me
away. But he could hardly drag himself, the poor fellow, and he was
trying to keep me away from him, because he was afraid for me."

She was utterly disconsolate, and I could only keep on stroking the
child's head as I used to, when she came to seek consolation for babyish
sorrows. Of course I was worried about her, and realized how helpless I
was. She hadn't grown over night, naturally, yet something appeared to
have been added to her stature. She was a woman now, full of the
instincts of womanhood, and she was escaping from my influe