ht, and
would remain where we were, when Walkirk uttered an exclamation.

"We are taking in water by the bucketful," said he; "our side has been
stove in."

"Impossible!" I exclaimed. "We were not struck with enough force for
that."

But examination proved that he was correct. One or more of our planks
had been broken just below the water line and our boat was filling,
though not rapidly.

"Stoved in, eh?" shouted the voice from above. "Well, ye needn't sink.
I'll haul yer bowline taut, and I'll heave ye another to make fast to
yer stern. That'll keep yer little craft afloat until ye can unlade her;
and the quicker ye get yer traps up here the better, if ye don't want
'em soaked."

Acting upon these suggestions, Walkirk and I went vigorously to work,
and passed up our belongings as rapidly as possible to the man above,
who, by leaning over the rails, could easily reach them. When everything
movable had been taken out of our boat, the man let down a ladder and I
climbed on board the larger vessel, after which he came down to our
boat, detached the boom, gaff, and sail, and unshipped the mast; all of
which we afterwards hoisted on board his vessel by means of a block and
tackle.

"Now, then," said our new companion, "ye're safe, and yer boat can
capsize if it's a mind to, but it can't sink; and when it's better
daylight, and Abner's on deck, perhaps we'll rig out a couple of spars
and haul her up at the stern; but there's time enough to settle all
that. And now I'd like to know how ye came to be driftin' around here
with no light out."

I explained, but added I had not seen any light on his vessel.

"Well," said the man, looking upward, "that light's out, and ten to one
it was out when we run inter ye. I'spect Abner didn't calkerlate for
fillin' it for day work and night work too."

The speaker was a grizzled man, middle-aged, and rather too plump for a
sailor. He had a genial, good-natured countenance, and so far as I could
see was the only occupant of the vessel.

His craft was truly a peculiar one. It was sloop-rigged, and on the
after part of the deck, occupying about one third of the length of the
vessel, was a structure resembling a small one-storied house, which rose
high above the rest of the deck, like the poop of an old-fashioned
man-of-war. In the gable end of this house, which faced upon the deck,
there was a window and a door. The boom of the mast was rigged high
enough to allow it to sweep over