n to imitate to-morrow?"

"Crusoe!" promptly responded Ford.

"I see. And so you've got Dick Lee to go along as your man Friday."

"He's Dab's man, not mine."

"Oh! and you mean to be Crusoe number two? Well, don't get cast away on
any desolate island, that's all."

Ford slipped into the library, and put the books away. It had been
Samantha Kinzer's room, and had plenty of book-shelves, in addition to
the elegant "cases" Mr. Foster had brought from the city with him; for
Samantha was inclined to be of a literary turn of mind. All the cases
and shelves were full too; but not on any one of them was Ford Foster
able to discover a volume he cared to take out with him in place of
"Cook" or "Crusoe."

The next morning, within half an hour after breakfast, every member of
the two families was down at the landing, to see their young sailors
make their start; and they were all compelled to admit that Dab and Dick
seemed to know precisely what they were about.

As for Ford, that young gentleman was wise enough, with all those eyes
watching him, not to try any thing that he was not sure of; though he
carefully explained to Annie, "Dab is captain, you know. I'm under his
orders to-day."

Dick Lee was hardly the wisest fellow in the world, for he added
encouragingly,--

"And you's doin' tip-top, for a green hand, you is."

The wind was blowing right off shore, and did not seem to promise any
thing more than a smart breeze. It was easy enough to handle the little
craft in the inlet; and in a marvellously short time she was dancing out
upon the blue waves of the spreading "bay." It was a good deal more like
a land-locked "sound" than any sort of a bay, with that long, low,
narrow sand-island cutting it off from the ocean.

"I don't wonder Ham Morris called her the 'Swallow,'" said Ford. "How
she skims! Can you get in under the deck, there, forward? That's the
cabin."

"Yes, that's the cabin," replied Dab. "But Ham had the door put in with
a slide, water-tight. It's fitted with rubber. We can put our things in
there, but it's too small for any thing else."

"What's it made so tight for?"

"Oh! Ham says he's made his yacht a life-boat. Those places at the sides
and under the seats are all water-tight. She might capsize, but she'd
never sink. Don't you see?"

"I see. How it blows!"

"It's a little fresh, now we are getting away from under the land. How'd
you like to be wrecked?"

"Good fun," said Ford. "I got wreck