The Breath of the Southern Seas 103 



spots in twenty-four hours, and tell you with 

 authority what she is worth. 



" How is she, George? " I asked as I sprang 

 up her steps the day she arrived. 



" She's a Jim-dandy!" he cried with a grin. 

 "She goes through the -water slicker'n a eel. 

 She stands right up in a blow and leaves a 

 white streak behind her as far as you can see." 



And so I found her. 



When all is ready for the winter cruise, 

 and we had said good-bye for a month to the 

 little world on shore, we began to set her big 

 white sails. 



I take a hand with the boys clearing her 

 decks and storing everything snug. Her 

 gunning boats and decoys are slung in on 

 deck and her tenders on her davits. 



"It looks nasty in the nor'west we're 

 goin' to have weather," was George's proph- 

 ecy, as we swung the big forty-foot boom of 

 her foresail up from its saddle and lifted it 

 to the highest reach of her canvas. 



