THE VOYAGE. Mr. Peters was not mistaken as to the time when he would finish the task of repairing the motor boat, and at the dinner-table on the day after Captain Eph and Sidney had had such a narrow escape from being run down in the fog, he announced that his work was at an end. "She's in as good a condition as I can ever put her, an' outside of a reg'lar ship carpenter, I'd like to see the man who would do a neater job. When she's had a coat of paint, it would puzzle a Quaker lawyer to make out to tell that she'd ever been stove." "There's one thing I like about our Sammy," Uncle Zenas said in a confidential tone to Sidney. "He'll never be hung because of not blowin' his own horn loud enough, an' that's really the fact." "On this 'ere ledge a man has got to speak for himself, else there's danger of forgettin' whether or no he's alive," Mr. Peters replied in a placid tone. "It ain't often I get a chance for horn-blowin', owin' to the noise you an' Cap'n Eph make about yourselves. What do you say to havin' a try at the motor, Sonny?" Sidney looked toward Captain Eph inquiringly, and the latter replied. "I can't see as there's anything to hinder, pervidin' you don't run outside the cove. All you want to know is whether it's in workin' order, an' that shouldn't take many minutes. If it so be that we do run over to the mainland, it's my opinion that the voyage can be begun within the next twenty-four hours, for this 'ere fog storm is about at an end, 'cordin' to the looks of things." Therefore it was that as soon as Sidney had eaten dinner he went to the narrow opening in the rocks where the motor boat was moored at such a distance from the foot of the ways that there could be no danger the waves would dash her against the timbers. Mr. Peters hauled the little craft in so that the lad could leap aboard from the rocks, and while he examined the motor according to the instructions of the _West Wind's_ engineer, Captain Eph and Uncle Zenas came down on the reef as spectators. It was not necessary to spend many minutes in order to learn if the machinery was in working order. When Sidney applied the spark which ignites the gas, the screw immediately began to revolve, and he had no difficulty in sending her ahead or astern at will. "I reckon there's no great need of your spendin' very much time over that end of the business," the keeper said in a tone of satisfaction. "You an' Sammy had better give the engine a thorough cleanin', an' when that has been done I'll try to answer the questions you asked this mornin' about the light, if you come up into the lantern." Then Captain Eph went back to the tower, and when the two were busily engaged obeying orders, Mr. Peters asked curiously: "What did the cap'n mean, Sonny, about answerin' your questions?"