s continued to wink away in companionable reassurance just
the same.

* * * * *

"The other habit!" Tumm ejaculated. "Ay--the other habit! 'Twas habit:
a habit o' soul. An' then I learned a truth o' life. 'Twas no new
thing, t' be sure: every growed man knows it well enough. But 'twas
new t' me--as truth forever comes new t' the young. Lovely or fearsome
as may chance t' be its guise, 'tis yet all new to a lad--a flash o'
light upon the big mystery in which a lad's soul dwells eager for
light. An' I was scared; an' I jumped away from Davy Junk--as once
thereafter I did--an' fair shook in the Presence o' the Truth he'd
taught me. For 'twas clear as a star: that a soul fashions its own
world an' lives therein. An' I'd never knowed it afore! An' I mind
well that it come like a vision: the glimpse of a path, got from a
hill--a path the feet o' men may tread t' hell an men perversely
choose it. A wolf's world? A world as you likes it! An' in my young
world was no sorrow at all--nor any sin, nor hate, nor hunger, nor
tears. But love, ecod!--which, like truth, comes new t' the young, an'
first glimpsed is forever glorious. I was sixteen then--a bit more,
perhaps; an' I was fond o' laughter an' hope. An' Bessie Tot was in my
world: a black-haired, red-lipped little rogue, with gray eyes, slow
glances, an' black lashes t' veil her heart from eager looks. First
love for T. Tumm, I'm bold t' say; for I'm proud o' the odd lift o'
soul it give me--which I've never knowed since, though I've sought it
with diligence--ay, almost with prayer. I've no shame at all t' tell
o' the touch of a warm, moist little hand on the road t' Gull Island
Cove--the whisper, the tender fear, in the shadow o' the Needle--an'
the queer, quick little kiss at the gate o' dark nights--an' the sigh
an' the plea t' come again. An' so, t' be sure, I'd no kin with the
gloom o' Davy Junk that night, but was brother t' hope an' joy an'
love. An' my body was big an' warm an' willin'--an' my heart was
tender--an' my soul was clean--an' for love o' the maid I loved I'd
turned my eyes t' the sunlit hills o' life. God's world o' sea an'
labor an' hearts--an' therein a lad in love!

"'I'll take care o' my soul,' thinks the lad, that was I, 'lest it be
cast away forever, God help me!'

"An' that's youth--the same everywhere an' forever."

Tumm sighed....

* * * * *

"'Twas high time for me now t' sail