"Bless you, my girl," said the Captain; "you've been the greatest help in the world to me with your bright face and cheerful ways. But I don't think you can stand watch in a heavy gale, dear, and I'm worried for fear this one that's coming may outlast my strength." "Then I'll tell you what I think you ought to do, father." "And what's that, Mary?" "The bark is snug, so you go and lie down now. See if you can't get two or three hours of sleep before the gale begins. I'll keep the deck, and call you at the first change in the weather." The Captain looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, and remembered how thorough her sea-training had been. But she was so young! "Well," he said, "I fancy there's some sense in your idea. Now pay attention." "Yes, father." "You see that particularly hard-looking spot down there in the southeast?" "Do you mean where the clouds look so much like slate-pencil?" "That's the place exactly. Now you keep your eye on that spot, because that's where I'm expecting the wind to come from. If that spot grows lighter, you call me at once." "All right, father," said the girl; "you make your mind easy. I sha'n't lose sight of that spot." "But at the same time, Mary," continued the Captain, "you mustn't neglect to keep a sharp lookout all around, for the wind may come from some unexpected quarter." "Don't be afraid, father dear," said Mary, smiling up at him bravely; "you know I've been at sea before." "Yes, my girl, I know; but you've never had quite so much responsibility on your shoulders. There, now, I'll go below and lie down just to please you." Captain Kent paused a moment at the door of his cabin and shook his head. "It's a strange thing to leave a young girl like that on watch at such a time, but what else can I do? She knows more in a minute than those muttonheads forward do in a month." And with that thought in his mind the Captain went below and tried to snatch a brief rest before the coming of the storm. Mary, who was well accustomed to the wild movements of a vessel's deck, stood balanced with her shapely feet well apart and her hands clasped behind her back. With her knitted woollen cap pulled down over her ears, a big muffler around her neck, a heavy pea-jacket, and a plain skirt, she looked not unlike a picture of one of those old Dutch skippers that one sees in pictures of the days when the Netherlands were a power on the high-seas. The sharp frosty air made her cheeks as red as roses, and her brown eyes sparkled like stars. The man at the wheel, who had little enough to do in such a villanous calm beyond keeping the spokes from jumping, gazed at her in admiration, and the men forward nodded their heads approvingly at one another as they saw the Captain go below. "Sorra's the weather we'll be afther havin' afoor noight," said Pat Maginn, "an' it's good the Cap'n goes to resht lavin' the foinist mate oi iver see on watch. But oi wish thim fellies that's sick beyant war on the deck too."