jist stay and see what the Cap'n's luck is. Massy!" he added, as he
looked in at the door, "if you hain't got the minister there! Wal', now,
I come jist as I be," he added, with a glance down at his clothes.

"Never mind, Captain," said Mr. Sewell; "I'm in my fishing-clothes, so
we're even."

As to little Mara, she had run down to the beach, and stood so near the
sea, that every dash of the tide-wave forced her little feet to tread an
inch backward, stretching out her hands eagerly toward the schooner,
which was standing straight toward the small wharf, not far from their
door. Already she could see on deck figures moving about, and her sharp
little eyes made out a small personage in a red shirt that was among the
most active. Soon all the figures grew distinct, and she could see her
grandfather's gray head, and alert, active form, and could see, by the
signs he made, that he had perceived the little blowy figure that stood,
with hair streaming in the wind, like some flower bent seaward.

And now they are come nearer, and Moses shouts and dances on the deck,
and the Captain and Mrs. Pennel come running from the house down to the
shore, and a few minutes more, and all are landed safe and sound, and
little Mara is carried up to the house in her grandfather's arms, while
Captain Kittridge stops to have a few moments' gossip with Ben Halliday
and Tom Scranton before they go to their own resting-places.

Meanwhile Moses loses not a moment in boasting of his heroic exploits to
Mara.

"Oh, Mara! you've no idea what times we've had! I can fish equal to any
of 'em, and I can take in sail and tend the helm like anything, and I
know all the names of everything; and you ought to have seen us catch
fish! Why, they bit just as fast as we could throw; and it was just
throw and bite,--throw and bite,--throw and bite; and my hands got
blistered pulling in, but I didn't mind it,--I was determined no one
should beat me."

"Oh! did you blister your hands?" said Mara, pitifully.

"Oh, to be sure! Now, you girls think that's a dreadful thing, but we
men don't mind it. My hands are getting so hard, you've no idea. And,
Mara, we caught a great shark."

"A shark!--oh, how dreadful! Isn't he dangerous?"

"Dangerous! I guess not. We served him out, I tell you. He'll never eat
any more people, I tell you, the old wretch!"

"But, poor shark, it isn't his fault that he eats people. He was made
so," said Mara, unconsciously touching a dee