nd there was no time to lose.

[Illustration: "HE STARTED UP, THINKING OF THE FARM AT HOME"]

Sol needn't have been afraid that his father would come after him, if he
had only known what was happening at the farm. Captain Solomon had been
surprised that Sol didn't come down stairs and, finally, he had gone up
after him. There were Seth and John just waking up and rubbing the sleep
out of their eyes; but there was no Sol and his bed hadn't been slept
in. And Captain Solomon looked around until he saw the two letters
pinned to the pin-cushion. Then he looked angry, and he took the two
letters and marched down stairs again. He didn't say anything, but he
gave the letter that was directed "For Mother" to his wife.

And Sol's mother didn't say anything, either, but she opened her letter
and read it. It didn't take very long to read it but it took longer than
Captain Solomon's. And the tears came into her eyes as she handed the
letter to Captain Solomon and asked him not to be hard on the poor boy
but to be gentle with him, for he must have felt that very same way when
he first went to sea.

And Captain Solomon read her letter and then he sat without saying
anything for a long time, looking out of the window. Perhaps he didn't
see the things that were there; perhaps, instead of the fields of tall
grass and of wheat, waving in the breeze, he saw the blue ocean
sparkling in the sun and stretching away until it met the sky. Perhaps
he saw the tall masts and the white sails of the _Industry_ rising far
above his head, and felt her buoyant hull under his feet.

Whatever he saw, as he sat there, he laughed aloud, at last, and brought
his fist down on the kitchen table.

"Let him go!" he said. "It's in the blood. The sea's salt is in the
blood and the only thing that will take it out is the sea itself. He can
no more help it than he can help breathing. I'll write him a letter."

And so it happened that there was a letter for Sol in Captain Jonathan's
and Captain Jacob's office the next morning. They didn't know where he
was, but they sent to all their ships that were in port to see if he
could be found. The _Industry_ happened to be in port, but she was just
ready to sail, and she was to sail that afternoon. And it happened that
Sol had shipped as one of her crew and he was on board of her. Captain
Jonathan and Captain Jacob didn't know that Sol was one of the crew of
the _Industry_, because they didn't generally look over the