ing to don my
racquets and make the round of the fox traps with the twins, or to play
pranks on the neighbours, or to fashion curious masques and go mummering
from tilt to tilt. In the end, I emerged from the unfortunate mood with
one firm conviction, founded largely, I fear, upon a picture which hung
by my bed at home: that portraying a rising from the dead, the grave
below, a golden, cloudy heaven above, wherefrom a winged angel had
descended to take the hand of the free, enraptured soul. And my
conviction was this, that, come what might to the souls of the wicked,
the souls of the good were upon death robed in white and borne aloft to
some great bliss, yet lingered, by the way, to throw back a tender
glance.

I had never seen death come.

* * * * *

In three weeks my rations were exhausted, and, since it would have been
ungenerous in me to consume Skipper Tommy's food, I had the old man
harness the dogs and take me home. My only regret was that my food did
not last until Skipper Tommy had managed to make Tom Tot laugh. Many a
night the old man had tried to no purpose, for Tom Tot would stare him
stolidly in the eye, however preposterous the tale to be told. The twins
and I had waited in vain--ready to explode at the right moment: but
never having the opportunity. The last assault on Tom Tot's composure
had been disastrous to the skipper. When, with highly elaborate detail,
he had once more described his plan for training whales, disclosing, at
last, his intention of having a wheel-house on what he called the
forward deck----

"What about the fo'c's'le?" Tom Tot solemnly asked.

"Eh?" gasped the skipper. "Fo'c's'le?"

"Ay," said Tom Tot, in a melancholy drawl. "Isn't you give a thought t'
the crew?"

Skipper Tommy was nonplussed.

"Well," sighed Tom, "I s'pose you'll be havin' t' fit up Jonah's
quarters for them poor men!"

* * * * *

At home, in the evening, while my mother and father and sister and I
were together in the glow of the fire, we delighted to plan the
entertainment of the doctor who was coming to cure my mother. He must
have the armchair from the best room below, my mother said, that he
might sit in comfort, as all doctors should, while he felt her pulse; he
must have a refreshing nip from the famous bottle of Jamaica rum, which
had lain in untroubled seclusion since before I was born, waiting some
occasion of vast importance; an