THE FATTED CALF. 25 



ran bubbling under me, and the wind blew the 

 pages of the Bible so I thought it would tear them 

 out and whisk them away. Now and then I would 

 look up. Every man on deck was staring aft and 

 wondered what in the name of hemp and oakum 

 the old man had sent the boy out there for ! 



" As soon as I got the Commandments so I 

 could say them, I crawled back on deck and said 

 my piece to the old man — every word right. 

 The old man told me ' not to forget 'em, for if I 

 did he'd learn 'em into my back with a rope's end 

 so they'd never come out.' 



" Several Sundays later, instead of giving the 

 crew a day of comparative rest, the old man 

 found them some extra work to do. He con- 

 formed to the spirit of the old rhyme, 



u ' Six days shalt thou work and do all thou art able, 



And on the seventh, holy -stone the deck and clean-scrape 

 the cable.' 



But the particular application he gave it was, — 

 having an old torn sail got on deck and mended. 

 The crew were growling as they went about their 

 task. They were as sullen as a crowd of school- 

 boys kept in at recess. 



" I thought I'd see if I could change that a 

 little. So when the old man came on deck, I 



