Page:Aladdin O'Brien (1902).pdf/39

 stanch little craft" (he had the phrase of a book) "Good Luck. I'm the captain and you're the builder's daughter"—and so she was. "Chrissen 'er, Marg'ret. Kiss her on the bow an' say she's the Good Luck."

Then Margaret, her hat over one ear, and the draggled ostrich feather greatly in the way, knelt, and putting her arms about the shoreward end of the log, kissed it, and said in a drawn little voice:

"The Good Luck."

"And now, Margaret," said Aladdin, "you must stay right here 'n' not go 'way from the shore, so's I can find you when I come back. But don't just sit still all the time,—keep moving, so's not to get any colder,—'n' I'll come back for you sure."

Then, because he felt his courage failing, he said, "Good-by, Marg'ret," and turning abruptly, waded in to his ankles and bent over the log to give it that final impetus which was to set it adrift. In his heart were several things: the desire to