ver, but had been obliged to seek a less
strenuous occupation because of having wrenched his back. "Ah suttinly
will be ready fo' de hospital when Ah gits t'rough wid dis movin'."

"Oh, you're just plain lazy, Sam," chaffed Drew. "It won't be half so
bad as you think. We'll have a gang of truckmen and their helpers to
do most of the heavy work. But I suppose we've got our hands full,
packing these instruments so they won't be broken and scratched. And
'hustle' is the word from now on."

"But think of the junk upstairs!" groaned Winters. "Why doesn't the
old man call in the Salvation Army and give them the whole bunch on
condition that they take it away? He's got the accumulation of twenty
years on that top floor, and it's not worth the powder to blow it up.
It beats me why Tyke keeps all that old clutter."

"It doesn't seem worth house room," admitted Drew; "and now that we're
moving, perhaps we can get rid of a lot of the stuff. I'll speak to
Tyke about it. But let's forget the upper floors and get busy on this
one. There's a man's job right here."

"A giant's job, to my way of thinking," grumbled Winters, as he looked
around him.

It was indeed a varied and extensive stock that was carried on the main
floor. To name it all would have been to enumerate almost everything
that is used on shipboard, whether driven by wind or by steam.
Thermometers, barometers, binoculars, flanges, couplings, carburetors,
lamps, lanterns, fog horns, pumps, check valves, steering wheels,
galley stoves, fire buckets, hand grenades, handspikes, shaftings,
lubricants, wire coils, rope, sea chests, life preservers, spar
varnish, copper paint, pulleys, ensigns, twine, clasp knives, boat
hooks, chronometers, ship clocks, rubber boots, fur caps, splicing
compounds, friction tape, cement, wrenches, hinges, screws, oakum,
oars, anchors--it was no wonder that the force quailed at sight of the
work that lay before them.

They set to work smartly and had already made notable progress when
Tyke stepped out of the private office. He looked around with a
melancholy smile.

"Dismantling the old ship, I see," he observed to Drew.

"Right on the job," replied the young man, glad to note that Tyke
seemed to have somewhat recovered his equanimity after the trying
events of the day before.

Grimshaw watched them for a while, making a suggestion now and then but
leaving most of the direction of the work to his chief clerk while he
ruminat