get I 'll
land you, and then I 'll deal with French Pete--"

"No, you don't," Joe interrupted hotly. "When I leave I 'm not going to
leave you in trouble on my account. So don't you try anything like that.
I 'll get away, never fear, and if I can figure it out I want you to
come along too; come along anyway, and figure it out afterward. What d'
you say?"

'Frisco Kid shook his head, and, gazing up at the starlit heavens,
wandered off into dreams of the life he would like to lead but from
which he seemed inexorably shut out. The seriousness of life was
striking deeper than ever into Joe's heart, and he lay silent,
thinking hard. A mumble of heavy voices came to them from the
_Reindeer_; and from the land the solemn notes of a church bell
floated across the water, while the summer night wrapped them
slowly in its warm darkness.

CHAPTER XIV

AMONG THE OYSTER-BEDS

Time and the world slipped away, and both boys were aroused by the harsh
voice of French Pete from the sleep into which they had fallen.

"Get under way!" he was bawling. "Here, you Sho! Cast off ze gaskets!
Queeck! Lively! You Kid, ze jib!"

Joe was clumsy in the darkness, not knowing the names of things and the
places where they were to be found; but he made fair progress, and when
he had tossed the gaskets into the cockpit was ordered forward to help
hoist the mainsail. After that the anchor was hove in and the jib set.
Then they coiled down the halyards and put everything in order before
they returned aft.

"Vaire good, vaire good," the Frenchman praised, as Joe dropped in over
the rail. "Splendeed! You make ze good sailorman, I know for sure."

'Frisco Kid lifted the cover of one of the cockpit lockers and glanced
questioningly at French Pete.

"For sure," that mariner replied. "Put up ze side-lights."

'Frisco Kid took the red and green lanterns into the cabin to light them,
and then went forward with Joe to hang them in the rigging.

"They 're not goin' to tackle it," 'Frisco Kid said in an undertone.

"What?" Joe asked.

"That big thing I was tellin' you was down here somewhere. It 's so big,
I guess, that French Pete 's 'most afraid to go in for it. Red Nelson 'd
go in quicker 'n a wink, but he don't know enough about it. Can't go in,
you see, till Pete gives the word."

"Where are we going now?" Joe questioned.

"Don't know; oyster-beds most likely, from the way we 're heading."

It was an uneventful trip. A breeze sprang