ring the
goat right home," as one who calls her child--and her goat--away from
evil.

"And keep her there!" finished Joe Doane.

The Doanes ate their meal in stricken silence. Finally Doane burst out,
"What's the matter with you all? Such a fuss about the orderin' off of a
_goat_."

"It's a _government_ goat," lisped Edgar.

"It's a _government_ goat," repeated his wife in a tense voice.

"What do you mean--government goat? There's no such animal."

But it seemed there was, the Cadaras had, not only the goat, but a book
about the goat. The book was from the government. The government had
raised the goat and had singled the Cadaras out as a family upon whom a
government goat should be conferred. The Cadaras held her in trust for
the government. Meanwhile they drank her milk.

"Tony Cadara said, if I'd dig clams for him this afternoon he'd let me
help milk her to-night," said young Joe.

This was too much. "Ain't you kids got no _spine_? Kowtowing to them
Portuguese because a few folks that's sorry for them have made them
presents. They're _ginnies_. You're Doanes."

"I want a goat!" wailed Edgar. His father got up from the table.

"The children are all right," said his wife, in her patient voice that
made you impatient. "It's natural for them to want a few of the things
they see other children having."

He'd get _away_! As he went through the shed he saw his line and picked
it up. He'd go out on the breakwater--maybe he'd get some fish, at least
have some peace.

The breakwater wasn't very far down the beach from his house. He used
to go out there every once in a while. Every once in a while he had a
feeling he had to get by himself. It was half a mile long and of big
rocks that had big gaps. You had to do some climbing--you could imagine
you were in the mountains--and that made you feel far off and different.
Only when the tide came in, the sea filled the gaps--then you had to
"watch your step."

He went way out and turned his back on the town and fished. He wasn't to
finish the work on the _Lillie-Bennie_. They said that morning they
thought they'd have to send down the Cape for an "expert." So _he_ would
probably go to work at the new cold storage--working with a lot of
Portagee laborers. He wondered why things were this way with him. They
seemed to have just happened so. When you should have had some money it
didn't come natural to do the things of people who have no money. The
money went out of the