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 nests and a couple of roosts across here and you'd have a fine chicken-house. Anyhow, no harm in stopping the leak."

"I dare say she can use it for something, anyhow," said Laurie.

"If it was me," said Kewpie, "I'd keep ducks. Look at all the water they'd have!"

For better than an hour dust flew from bow to stern on the Pequot Queen, and the scrape of the scrubbing-brush and the slap of the mop sounded from cabin, deck, and wheel-house. To introduce water into the boiler room would have made matters only worse there, for the floor and even the walls were black with coal-dust. They cleaned out the fire-box and used the broom repeatedly and closed the doors on the scene. But by four o'clock the rest of the boat was thoroughly clean, and only sunlight and warmth were needed to complete the work. The rather worn linoleum on the cabin floor looked very different after Bob's scrubbing brush and Kewpie's mop had got through with it. Even the paint in there had been won back to a fair semblance of whiteness. By that time Polly and Mae, released from school,