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. 



