"Dab," said Ford Foster, "you've forgotten to unhitch the 'Jenny.' Here she is, towing astern." "That's all right. We may need her. She's too heavy to take on board." A careful fellow was Mr. Hamilton Morris, and he knew very well the value of a row-boat to a picnic party. As for Joe and Fuz they were compelled to overcome a strong inclination to cast the boat loose. Such a joke it would have been, but Ham was in the way as long as he held the tiller. The "Swallow" was "steady" enough to inspire even Annie Foster with a feeling of confidence, but Ford carefully explained to her the difference between slipping along over the little waves of the land-locked bay, and plunging into the great billows of the stormy Atlantic. "I prefer this," said Annie. "But I wouldn't have missed the other for anything," replied Ford. "Would you, Dick?" Mr. Richard Lee had taken his full share in the work of starting, and had made himself singularly useful, but if all the rest had not been so busy they would have noticed his silence. Hardly a word had he uttered, that anybody could remember, and, now he was forced to say something, his mouth opened slowly, as if he had never tried to speak before and was not quite sure he knew how: "No,-Mr.-Foster,-I-would-not-have-missed-that-trip-for-a-good-deal." Every word by itself, and as different from Dick's ordinary talk as a cut stone is from a rough one. Ham Morris opened his eyes wide, and Ford puckered up his lips in a sort of a whistle, but Annie caught the meaning of it quicker than they did. "Dick," she said, "are we to fish to-day?" "May be,-but-that-depends-on-Mr.-Morris." Every word slowly and carefully uttered, a good deal like a man counts over doubtful money, looking sharp for a counterfeit. "Look here, Dick!" suddenly exclaimed Dab Kinzer, "I give it up. You can do it. But don't try to keep it up all day. Kill you, sure as anything, if you do." "Did I say 'em all right, Cap'n Dab?" anxiously inquired Dick, with a happy look on his black, merry face. "Every word," said Dab. "Well for you they were all short. Keep on practicing." "I'll jest do dat, shuah!" Practicing? Yes, that was it, and Dick himself joined heartily in the peal of laughter with which the success of his first attempt at "white folk's English" was received by the party. Dab explained that as soon as Dick found he was really to go to the academy he determined to teach his tongue new habits, and the whole company heartily approved, even while they joined Dab in advising him not to try too much at a time. Plenty of talk and fun all around as the "Swallow" skimmed onward, and the long, low outlines of the narrow sand-island were rapidly becoming more distinct. "Is that a light-house?" asked Annie of Dab. "Yes, and there's a wrecking station close by." "Men there all the while? Are there many wrecks on this coast?"