ve city; and, being a keen-eyed youngster even
then, he had left swings and seesaws to less interested observers, and
trudged around the fields, the henhouse, the dairies, the barns, watching
the digging and the planting, the feeding and the milking; so that the
ways of cows and chickens were not altogether beyond his ken.

"Sure and yer board and keep was to be paid for with the rest, lad," said
Brother Bart, kindly.

"I don't want it paid, Brother," replied Dan. "St. Andrew's does enough
for me. I'd a heap rather work for myself out here."

"Whether that is decent spirit or sinful pride I'm not scholar enough to
tell," said the good Brother in perplexity. "It takes a wise man sometimes
to know the differ; but I'm thinking" (and there was a friendly gleam in
the old man's eyes) "if I was a strapping lad like you, I would feel the
same. So work your own way if you will, Danny lad, and God bless you at
it!"

Even heartier was the well-wishing of Captain Jeb after his first day's
experience with his second officer.

"You're all right, matie!" he said, slapping Dan-on the shoulder. "There
will be no loafing on your watch, I kin see. You're the clipper build I
like. Them others ain't made to stand rough weather; but as I take it,
you're a sort of Mother Carey chicken that's been nested in the storm. And
I don't think you'll care to be boxed up below with them fair-weather
chaps. Suppose, being second mate, you swing a hammock up on the deck with
Jeb and me?"

"Jing! I'd like that first rate," was the delighted answer.

And, as Brother Bart had no fear of danger on the "Lady Jane," Dan entered
on all the privileges of his position. While Freddy and Dud and Jim took
possession of the sheltered cabin, and the dignity of the Padre (so it
seemed to Captain Jeb) demanded the state and privacy of the Captain's
room, Dan swung his hammock up on deck, where it swayed delightfully in
the wind, while the stout awnings close-reefed in fair weather gave full
view of the sea and the stars.

He slept like a child cradled in its mother's arms, and was up betimes to
plunge into a stretch of sheltered waves, still rosy with the sunrise, for
a morning bath such as no porcelain tub could offer; and then to start off
with old Neb, who, like other wise householders, began the day's work
early. Neb might be deaf and dull, and, in boyish parlance, a trifle
"dippy"; but he knew the ways of fish, from whales to minnows. He had a
boat of his