Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/27

 when you ain't got anything to say, you just clap the hatch on. And then," he added, "sit on it, just as you're doing now!" The captain craned his head a little for a look at the dim spread of the jib. "I'll feel a sight easier," he muttered, "when we're five hundred miles further west."

"You aren't afraid of s, are you, dad?" asked Nelson, smiling as he pulled at the dog's ears.

"I'm not exactly afraid of them, no, but 'accidents' have happened before this, and I'm kind of fond of this little ship."

"But, dad, we're not at war with Germany. They wouldn't"

"Well, there was the William P. Frye," replied the captain dryly. "They got her, didn't they? And we weren't at war with her then, neither. Any more than we were when they sank the Lusitania," he added bitterly.

"But I've always thought that was—was different," said Nelson, vaguely. "She was British, dad, and"

"I know," interrupted his father roughly. "She was British, but she had American citizens aboard, and Germany knew it. I'd rather you didn't try to excuse Germany for that deed, son; I—I'm likely to lose my temper. Well, ain't it 7