would tear itself to pieces. The sloop was rolling wildly in the quick
sea which had come up. Everything was in confusion; but even Joe's
untrained eye showed him that it was an orderly confusion. He could
see that 'Frisco Kid knew just what to do and just how to do it. As
he watched him he learned a lesson, the lack of which has made failures
of the lives of many men--_the value of knowledge of one's own capacities_.
'Frisco Kid knew what he was able to do, and because of this he had
confidence in himself. He was cool and self-possessed, working hurriedly
but not carelessly. There was no bungling. Every reef-point was drawn
down to stay. Other accidents might occur, but the next squall, or the
next forty squalls, would not carry one of those reef-knots away.

He called Joe for'ard to help stretch the mainsail by means of swinging
on the peak and throat-halyards. To lay out on the long bowsprit and put
a single reef in the jib was a slight task compared with what had been
already accomplished; so a few moments later they were again in the
cockpit. Under the other lad's directions, Joe flattened down the
jib-sheet, and, going into the cabin, let down a foot or so of centerboard.
The excitement of the struggle had chased all unpleasant thoughts from
his mind. Patterning after the other boy, he had retained his coolness.
He had executed his orders without fumbling, and at the same time without
undue slowness. Together they had exerted their puny strength in the face
of violent nature, and together they had outwitted her.

He came back to where his companion stood at the tiller steering, and he
felt proud of him and of himself; and when he read the unspoken praise
in 'Frisco Kid's eyes he blushed like a girl at her first compliment. But
the next instant the thought flashed across him that this boy was a thief,
a common thief; and he instinctively recoiled. His whole life had been
sheltered from the harsher things of the world. His reading, which had
been of the best, had laid a premium upon honesty and uprightness, and he
had learned to look with abhorrence upon the criminal classes. So he drew
a little away from 'Frisco Kid and remained silent. But 'Frisco Kid,
devoting all his energies to the handling of the sloop, had no time in
which to remark this sudden change of feeling on the part of his companion.

But there was one thing Joe found in himself that surprised him. While the
thought of 'Frisco Kid being a thief was