Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/58

42 something of seamanship, the Josephine, a very marvel of graceful lines and intricate  rigging. Such loving, patient care as had gone into the building of the little craft only  those two would ever know. The Captain’s rough thick fingers had worked wonders;  Billy’s impatient, unskilled ones had done  their full share. The two had had long talks together over their labours, in which the boy  had learned much of odd sounding names and  strange sea terms, but more of the adventures  and hardships and restlessness of the life of  those who follow the sea.

He did not admit to himself yet that he liked the sea, or that he was anything but  disappointed and angry that he must spend his  summer on the Island of Appledore, but he  could not deny that there was a charm in the  company of the old captain and that his stories  of all that happened off this bit of rugged,  rocky coast; of the smugglers that had hidden in the little harbour below the mill, of the  privateers that had lain behind the island  waiting until the enemy should pass, of the wrecks and daring rescues by the fishermen  of the Island, all these were tales of which  he never tired. He was full of questions to