d, patted the little boy on the head and left
him. But Davy replied not a word to his friend's remarks. His curly
head was stuffed quite full with the keel, timbers, ribs, beams,
stern-post, planks, and cutwater of the _Fair Nancy_; he could not
speak, he found it difficult even to think, so he thrust his hands deep
into his pockets, sat down on the shank of an anchor, and stared out to
sea. In half an hour he heaved a very deep sigh indeed, and said, "Oh!
dear me, I wonder if I shall ever go to sea in the _Fair Nancy_!"

Time flew on, and little Davy fished with his father, and worked for his
mother, and paid many a visit to the building-yard, to watch the
progress of the ship--his ship, as he called it. He begged very hard,
too, to be allowed to go in her when she should be ready for sea. At
first neither father nor mother would hear of it, but at last they began
to think that Davy would make a very good sailor, for certainly he was
an active obedient boy; so, although they did not say Yes, they were not
nearly so determined as they used to be in saying No.

The day of the launch was a great day at the seaport where Davy lived.
The launch of a large ship is always a very interesting and wonderful
sight indeed; so that thousands and thousands of people flock from all
directions to see it. Whichever way Davy looked he saw crowds of
people, some on foot, some on horses, some on donkeys, and some in
carriages, all streaming towards the one great point--the ship-builder's
yard. It seemed quite like a holiday or a fair, and was such a bright,
warm, sunny day that people's hearts felt far lighter than usual. Davy
saw all this at a glance the moment he left home; and, throwing his red
nightcap into the air, he gave one long loud hurrah! and ran away as
fast as his heavy fishing-boots would let him.

The ship was very different now from what it had been when he first saw
it. There were four little masts put up in it, on which were hoisted
gay and gaudy flags. Her "hull," or body, was now coppered and neatly
painted, while all the rubbish of the building-yard was cleared away, so
that everything looked neat and clean. The stocks, or framework on
which she had been built, sloped towards the water, so that when the
props were knocked away from the ship, she would slide by her own weight
into the sea. Ships are always built on sloping stocks near to the
water's edge; for you can fancy how difficult it would be to drag