104 Her Captain the Carter. 



what treachery there may be brewing? There are 

 arms aboard, in the form of forks or prongs ; and 

 commonly one or more passengers go out in her — 

 women with vast bundles and children — not to 

 mention the merchandise of sugars and of teas 

 from Cathay, which are shipped for delivery at half 

 the cottages and farmsteads en route homewards. 

 Wherefore, you see, the captain had needs be a 

 sober and godly man, having all these and manifold 

 other responsibilities upon his mind. 



Besides which he has to make a report upon the 

 state of the crops on every farm he passes, and what 

 everybody is doing, and if they have begun reaping ; 

 also to hail every vessel he passes outward or home- 

 ward bound, and enter her answers in his log, and 

 to keep his weather-eye open and a sharp watch to 

 windward, lest storms should arise and awake the 

 deep, and if the gale increases to batten down his 

 hatches and make all snug with the tarpaulin. He 

 must bear in mind the longitude of those ports where 

 there are docks, lest his team should cast a shoe or 

 any of the running rigging want splicing, or the hull 

 spring a leak — for the blacksmith's forges are often 

 leagues apart, and he may lose his certificate if he 

 strands his ship or founders on the open ocean of the 

 downs. Sometimes, if the currents run unexpectedly 

 strong, and he is deeply laden, he has to borrow or 

 hire a tug from the nearest farm, getting an extra 

 horse to pull up the hill. 



When he reaches harbor, and has leave ashore, 

 a jollier seaman never cracked a whip. Perhaps the 

 happiest time with the ploughboys is when they are 

 out with the wagon, having a little change, no harder 



