and exciting problem set the whole group
a-talking. Even Tonet laid his mandolin down on the ground and seemed to
be meditating deeply. He, at any rate, came out with the first
suggestion: "Spit-Fire"! Now, what do you say to that!

The Rector's corpulent agreeableness saw nothing wrong with that name.
Spit-Fire! What pride it would be for him to command a boat that,
faithful to such a christening, would go saucily crashing through the
storms with the untamed arrogance of a Portuguese! It was the women who
objected. Spit-Fire! Nonsense! Who ever heard of a fish-boat spitting
fire! That would make her the joke of all the Cabanal. No, _sina_ Tona
had the right idea--"Fleet-Foot," the name of old Pascualo's boat, the
one he had died in, and that, later on, had been the home of all the
family. But now it was the men's turn to shout something down. No, that
would bring bad luck, as the fate of _Fleet-Foot_ herself had shown.
Dolores had a good one. Why not "Rose of the Sea" ... a pretty name ...
as pretty as she was, and in fine taste.... But the Rector observed that
that name was on a boat already.... Too bad, too.... It was a beauty!
Roseta, who had pouted in disdain at every suggestion thus far, finally
came out with her own proposal. She had thought of it at home, the
evening before, on looking at a picture that came in a package of
tobacco from Gibraltar. She thought the name looked so pretty! It was
printed in colors around the trademark on the box--a girl in dancing
costume, with roses red as tomatoes on the little white skirt and a
bunch of flowers in her hand, as bright and stiff as radishes! _Flor de
mayo!_ The boat should be called "Mayflower!"

_Recristo!_ The Rector rubbed his hands in glee. Of course, just the
thing, just the thing! Think a moment! "_Flor de mayo_"--the famous
brand of Gibraltar! Well, the boat was built of tobacco, you might say.
Most of the money in her had come from smuggling those very rolls that
showed the gay dancer in the bright colors! Roseta was right! _Flor de
mayo! Flor de mayo!_

The name pleased everybody, awakening in those sluggish imaginations a
thrill of poetry and romance. They found something mysterious and
attractive in the name, without suspecting the charm attached to it by
that historic boat which carried the Puritans to the new world and
marked the birth of the great republic of the West!... The Rector could
not contain his joy. Roseta had the brains for you! Let's hav