ore. You know you and
Bob are all I've got in the world. Do you suppose I want you lost in a
fog and never heard from again?"

"Oh, Great Scott, Ma! They don't lose fishing boats now as they used
to. They carry wireless, and the fleet keeps in touch every minute."

"The dories have no wireless aboard them," observed Mrs. King grimly.

"I suppose not, no, probably they don't," His Highness admitted
reluctantly.

"Anyway, wireless or no wireless, you are not going on a fishing
cruise to the Grand Banks."

"I hear you, Ma," grinned the boy.

"There is plenty of work right here on the land if you're looking for
it. Why must you always be wanting to go to sea to earn money?"

"Faith, Mother, I don't know," laughed Walter. "I expect it's because
I see chores to do when I'm afloat that I can't see ashore. It is the
way I was born."

"A poor way."

"Maybe it is. At any rate I can't help it."

"I'm afraid you do not try to help it very hard."

The lad shrugged his shoulders.

"There's that chance you have to hire out at the Crowninshields' for
the summer."

"Those snobs."

"Beggars cannot be choosers. Besides, they may not be snobs at all.
What makes you think they are?"

"Oh, I don't mind the lugs they put on," protested Walter, evading the
issue. "I suppose all New York swells do that. It's what they want me
for that gets my goat." Again the knife he held was tragically
upraised. "How would you like to be nursemaid to six or eight
brainless little pups no bigger than rats? Not but what I like dogs.
I'd like nothing better than to own a fine dog of some spirit. But
those imitations! Why, before a week was out, I'd have their necks
wrung."

"Mr. Crowninshield promised to pay you well."

"What's money if all the kids in town are going to josh you?"

"Money is a good deal when you need it." His mother shook her head
gravely. "Have you ever considered how badly we are in want of money,
Walter?"

"What do you mean, Ma?" The boy wheeled about, startled.

"I haven't said anything about it, dear, because I could not bear to
have you boys bothered," was the quiet answer. "But lately things have
not been going well and I have been pretty much worried. The money
your Uncle Henry invested for us isn't paying any dividends; there
seems to be something the matter with the company's affairs. As for
your Uncle Mark Miller, I've heard nothing from him in months. His
ship was to put in at Shanghai for cargo and I ough