They found him in bed, and as white as the wall he was propped against. He held out his wasted hand to Tom. "You've come back in time for the examination," he said, with a little bitterness in his smile. "You've got all the odds now, Tom; go in and win. I told you this thing would cripple me. I'll never tackle an example again." Tom grew almost as pale as Joe, and looked imploringly at his father. Big tears rolled out of Mrs. Brown's eyes. "He's all I have in the world," whispered the poor widow to Mr. Jones. "Well, please God, madam," said Mr. Jones, "Joe will be all right yet. With your permission we'll get him out in the country on Tom's grandfather's farm. What he wants is country air and rest, and to give up this wicked struggle for supremacy. There's a better victory, my boys, than that with a mathematical problem--to do the best you can, and bid godspeed to the one that can honestly do better. There are some things far better than a class promotion, and you'll find them out there on the farm: health, contentment--" "And the jolliest colt you ever saw, Joe," broke in Tom, "and no end to dogs and pigeons." Joe began to look so much brighter and better. "Wait till you go back and pass the examination, Tom," he said. "I've been awfully mean and envious of you; but I'd take as much pride in it now as you would." "Wait till you're able to go with me," said Tom. "I've been mean and envious too; but we'll begin all over again, Joe, in grandpop's barn." So the boys went back to the country together, and Tom lost his promotion; but when Joe was able to first set his foot in Tom's grandfather's barn, and see that colt, Tom was one of the happiest fellows in the world. [Illustration: BASHFUL. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY SINGHI ("BINGHAMTON'S FOTOGRAFER").] [Illustration] Oh, Charley would a sailor be, And live for aye on the bright blue sea-- Yo ho! [Begun in No. 80 of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, May 10.] THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST." BY W. L. ALDEN, AUTHOR OF "THE MORAL PIRATES," ETC. CHAPTER VII. The next morning the sky was gray, and filled with flying clouds. The wind was blowing fresh and cold from the northwest, and the boys shivered, until their morning bath set their blood racing through their veins. "What do you think of the weather, Tom?" asked Charley, as they were drinking their coffee. "I don't think much of it," interrupted Joe. "It isn't half as good as the weather we had last summer." "Junior officers will please not give their opinions until they are asked for," said the young Captain, in his severest official manner. "I think," replied Tom, "that we're going to have a windy day, and I shouldn't be surprised if it rained before night." "Not unless the wind backs around to the southwest," said Charley. "I think it will blow hard; but it doesn't very often rain with a northwest wind." "Never mind if it doesn't rain," said Joe; "we'll get wet somehow, you can be sure."