came on board at Genoa, that they call
mosquitoes, and startles him with shrill buzzings in his ears, and
pricketh him in the tenderest spots she can find; drawing but the
smallest speck of blood, but causing an itching that makes him
ready to tear his flesh.

"Your mother, Roger, was one of the best of women. She was a good
housewife, and an affectionate. I do not know that I ever saw her
greatly ruffled in temper, but there were times when I would fly
from my house, and not come up from my work on board, until it was
time to go straight away to bed, so did she prick and sting me with
her tongue; and that not shrilly or with anger, but with little
things, let slip as it were unawares, and with an air of ignorance
that they in any way applied to me.

"No, Roger, if you will take my advice you will make your ship your
mistress. She will have her ways, but you will learn them, and will
know just how much helm she requires, and how the sail should be
trimmed; but with a woman no man attains to this knowledge, and if
you take my advice, you will give them a wide berth.

"I know," he went on, in answer to Roger's merry laugh, "that this
is a matter in which no man will trust to other experience than his
own. Every man who takes a woman to wife thinks that he can manage
her, and goes into the matter with a light heart, as if it were a
mere pleasure excursion on which he is embarking; whereas, in
truth, it is a voyage as full of dangers and perils as that upon
which we are about to adventure.

"Now let us turn back to our lodging, for I have nearly gone on my
face four times already, in these deep ruts and holes. I would that
the councilors of this town could see the streets of Genoa, or
Cadiz, or Amsterdam! They might then try to mend the ways of
Plymouth, and make them somewhat less perilous to passengers, after
dark."

Work began in earnest upon the following day. A number of
shipwrights were set upon the hull of the Swan, which was to be
thoroughly overhauled, caulked and pitched, within and without. The
masts and rigging were to be carefully looked to, and every defect
repaired. A new suit of sails was ordered, the old ones to be
patched where the Moorish shot had torn them, so as to be of use as
a second suit, did any misadventure happen to the others.

James Standing, the first mate, took charge of these matters;
Reuben Hawkshaw assisting Diggory Beggs in all things relating to
the stores. Greatly were the prov