e a right to your own opinion, John."

"I wish I had a chance to go. I would give all my old shoes, if I could
only be one of the party. What a glorious time they will have!"

Paul was of precisely the same opinion, but the idea of letting John run
the Fawn during his absence was not for a moment to be tolerated. He
would certainly run her on the rocks, or carry sail till the wind took
the masts out of her.

As it was a very pleasant day, Paul decided to run down below, and try
his luck among the cod and haddock; and they went farther out than they
had ever been before. A fine lot of fish, including a mammoth cod, that
had required the strength of both of them to pull out of the water,
rewarded their enterprise.

The wind was very light, and instead of getting home before the tide
turned, as Paul had calculated, they were two miles below Rock Island,
when the ebb tide set in against them. To add to this misfortune, the
wind entirely died out, and they were forced to come to anchor, to
prevent drifting down with the tide. With a good wind they were only two
hours' sail from home; but, as it was, there was a prospect of spending
another night in the cabin of the Fawn--not a very unpleasant
alternative, John thought, especially as they had a lantern, and plenty
of provisions on board.

The cod and haddock had all been dressed, and there was nothing for the
boys to do; so Paul went into the cabin and stretched himself on his
berth. He had placed two or three books on board for such an emergency
as the present, and he was soon absorbed in the contents of one of them.
He did not read long, for a hard day's work is not a good preparation
for literary labors. The book fell from his hand, and to the music of
the flapping sails he dropped asleep.

It is a noticeable fact that fishermen can sleep twenty-four hours on a
stretch. Many years ago, we went down a-fishing in one of the
pinky-stern schooners, which were much more common then in the waters of
Massachusetts Bay than at the present time. The crew consisted of the
skipper and three men, the former of whom was an old, weather-beaten
fisherman, who had roughed it on the coast from his boyhood. We went
down one night intending to fish the next day, and return by sunset; but
unfortunately a heavy rain kept us at our anchorage off Spectacle Island
for twenty-four hours. The old skipper got out of his berth and ate his
breakfast about ten, and after going half way up the com