The Captain invited them into the library to pick out Sherm's elephant. They were all so interested in the curios and asked so many questions they came near forgetting the boat ride. Ernest picked out a ship's cutlass the first thing. The Captain took it down for him to examine and he brandished it fiercely. Captain Clarke smiled. "I fear you wouldn't do much execution if you handled it that way, Ernest. A cutlass has tricks of its own. Here, this is the way." He showed the boy how to get the proper hold and how to swing it. Ernest struck an attitude. "Behold your sailor brother as he skims the briny deep, Chicken Little." "Pooh, naval officers don't carry cutlasses, do they, Captain Clarke?" "No, I believe the sword used now is straight. But this cutlass has a history I think might interest you." "Tell us." "If you like. It won't take long. Boys, will you draw up chairs for the girls?" Captain Clarke reached out his hand for a big easy chair nearby at the same moment that Sherm laid his hand upon it to draw it nearer for their host himself. The two hands rested in almost the same position on the opposite arms of the chair. They were singularly alike. Katy, the observing, noticed this instantly. Captain Clarke studied Sherm's hand for a minute, then his gaze shifted to his own. "I doubt if my hand was ever as good looking as Sherm's," he said easily. "You have a hand that denotes unusual strength and will power, according to 'palmology.' You will have to live up to it." But Katy was persistent. "It's almost exactly like yours, Captain Clarke, only yours isn't so smooth and has more lines. Don't you see it's a square hand with unusually long fingers. The thumbs are shaped just the same, too." "You should be an artist, Katy, you are such a close observer," replied the Captain. They settled down comfortably for the story. Chicken Little noticed Sherm regarding his own hand rather critically and glancing from it to the Captain's, who used frequent gestures as he warmed with his talk. Gertie could not take her eyes from the cruel steel blade of the cutlass. "I wish there were no awful things to kill people with. I don't believe God meant people to kill each other in battle any more than to kill each other when they get mad."