g to the house from the store was another small story-and-a-half
dwelling of the old-fashioned Cape Cod type. It stood upon a little hill
and commanded a wide view of ocean and beach and village. There were
some weather-beaten trees and a tangle of shrubs about it. It had been
untenanted for a good while and was in rather bad repair.

Mary arranged with the owner, a Bayport man, to lease this house and
land at a small rental for three years. In the lease was included
consent to the making of necessary alterations and repairs and the
privilege of purchasing, at a price therein named, at the end of the
three years, should the tenant wish to do so.

Then with the aid of soap and water, white paint and whitewash,
attractive but inexpensive wall papers, and odds and ends of quaint old
furniture, of which the parlor and best bedroom of the Gould-Hamilton
home supplied the larger quantity, she proceeded to make over the
interior of the little building. To every bit of nautical bric-a-brac,
pictures of old sailing ships and sea curios she gave especial
prominence. Then the lawn was mowed, the tangled shrubbery untangled
and clipped and pruned; cheap but pretty lattices made to look like the
shrouds of a ship, over which climbing roses were supposed--some day--to
twine, were placed against the walls, and rustic tables set about under
the trees and the grape arbor with ship lanterns hung above them. The
driveway down to the lane was rolled and hardened, and a sign, painted
by Joshua Bemis, the local "House, Boat and Sign Painter, Tinsmith and
Glazier"--see Mr. Bemis's advertisement in the Advocate--was hung on a
frame by the gateway.

Captain Shad's remarks when he first saw that sign may be worth quoting.
Mary had not consulted him concerning it; she deemed it best not to do
so. When it was in place, however, she led him out to inspect. Shadrach
adjusted his spectacles and read as follows:

THE FOR'ARD LOOKOUT
TEA AND GIFTS
DAINTY THINGS TO EAT
PRETTY THINGS TO BUY
ALL'S WELL!

There was the picture of a full-rigged ship, with every stitch set alow
and aloft, sailing through a sea of thick green and white paint toward a
kind of green wall with green feather dusters growing out of it.

Shadrach subjected this work of art to a long and searching stare. At
last he spoke.

"Carryin' every rag she can h'ist," he observed; "nobody at the wheel,
land dead ahead and breakers under the bows. Look