Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/80

64 higher along the sides of their little boat. All these things Captain Saulsby seemed cheerfully determined to ignore, so Billy decided  that it was best for him to say nothing.”

“I’ve had a lot of little adventures like this in my day,” the old sailor went on. “It makes me feel quite young again to be in just one  more. Why, the first time was when a sampan capsized when we were landing from the  Josephine in the harbor of Hongkong. I’ll never forget how I laughed out loud with the  queer, warm tickle of the water, when I’d  thought for sure it was going to be icy cold. I couldn’t have been much bigger than that.”

He tried to hold up a hand to show Billy the exact height he had been, but so nearly lost  his balance in the process that he was obliged  to clutch hastily at the slippery support again.

“Did you really go to sea when you were so little?” Billy asked. “I wonder your people let you.”

“They weren’t any too willing,” returned the Captain; “in fact, they weren’t willing at  all. My folks were like yours, though you wouldn’t think it; they were people with book-learning, doctors and lawyers and the like. They wanted me to be the same, and when I