bags, and boxes, and barrels, and--and--all the--salt-cellars, in the
ship, and it ran on to the table, and it ran on to the floor; and the
pirate captain caught hold of the handle and tried to keep it from
turning; and it gave him such a pinch that he put his fingers into his
mouth, and danced with pain. Then he was so mad that he got an axe and
chopped the mill in two, to punish it for knocking him. But
immediately another handle sprouted out on the half which hadn't any,
and that made two mills, and the salt came faster than ever. At last,
when it was up to their knees, Carl and the pirate captain ran to the
deck to consult what they should do; and, while they were consulting,
the mills went on grinding. And the ship got so full, and the salt was
so heavy, that, all of a sudden, down they all sank, ship and Carl and
the pirates and the mills and all, to the bottom of the sea."

Eyebright came to a full stop. The children drew long breaths.

"Didn't anybody ever get the mill again?" asked Bessie.

"No, never. There they both are at the bottom, grinding away as hard
as they can; and that's the reason why the sea is so salt!"

"Is it salt?" asked little Rosy, who never had seen the sea.

"Why, Rosy, of course. Didn't you ever eat codfish? They come out of
the sea, and they're just as salt as salt can be," said Tom, who was
about a year older than Rosy.

"Now, Molly, you tell one," said Eyebright. "Tell us that one which
your grandma told you,--the story about the Indian. Don't you
recollect?"

"Oh, yes; the one I told you that day in the pasture. It's a true
story, too, every bit of it. My grandma knew the lady it happened to.
It was ever and ever so long ago, when the country was all over woods
and Indians, you know, and this lady went to the West to live with her
husband. He was a pio-nary,--no, pioneer,--no, missionary,--that was
what he was. Missionaries teach poor people and preach, and this one
was awfully poor himself, for all the money he had was just a little
bit which a church in the East gave him.

"Well, after they had lived at the West for a year, the missionary had
to come back, because some of the people said he wasn't orthodox. I
don't know what that means. I asked father once, and he said it meant
so many things that he didn't think he could explain them all; but ma,
she said, it means 'agreeing with the neighbors.' Anyhow, the
missionary had to come back to tell the folks that he was orthodox