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 "He might tell them that he wouldn't buy any more of their old stone," said Mae. "I guess that would—would bring them around!"

"Not a doubt of it," laughed Ned. "Well, let's have a good look at the old ship first. Maybe she's fallen to pieces since morning!"

But she hadn't. They spent a full twenty minutes aboard her, while Laurie explained and Polly's enthusiasm grew by leaps and bounds. Bob, too, came over to Laurie's side, and even Ned, although he still pretended to doubt, was secretly favorable. As for Mae—well, as Polly went so went Mae! After they had viewed and discussed the Pequot Queen to their satisfaction, Laurie led them back along the river and showed the place he had selected for the Pequot Queen's future moorings. It was a quiet spot, disturbed by scant traffic along the lane, now that the chain-*works was no longer in operation. Passing steamers and tugs might infrequently break the silence with their whistles, and when, further down, a coal-barge tied up at the wharf, the whir of the unloading machinery would come softened by distance. Between the well-nigh unused road and the water lay a strip of grass and weeds, a