The morning after the race I was eating breakfast at home and I could not remember when I enjoyed a meal like that one. I had had a fine long sleep and the sleep that comes to a man after he's been through a long and exciting experience does make him feel like a world-beater. I felt that I could go out and about leap the length of a seine-boat or rip up a plank sidewalk. It was worth while to be alive, and everything tasted so good. I had put away six fried eggs and about fourteen of those little slices of bacon before I even thought of slacking up (with my mother piling them up as fast as I lifted them off)--and maybe I wouldn't have slacked then only my cousin Nell came skipping in. She kissed my mother half a dozen times, and danced around the room. "Four vessels off the Johnnie Duncan's model have already been ordered. Four, auntie--four. There will be a fleet of them yet, you'll see. And how are you, Joe?" "Fine," I said, and kept on eating. Nell didn't like my not noticing how glad she was feeling, I suppose, for all at once, as I was about to sugar another cup of coffee, she ran her hands through my hair and yanked till I couldn't pretend any longer. "There, now, with your mind off your stomach, perhaps you'll look up and converse when a lady deigns to notice you. How much money did Mr. Withrow lose on the race?" "I don't know, but it was a good pile; I know that." "And how much did Mr. Duncan win?" "I don't know that, either; but I hope it was a good roll, for he won about all Withrow lost." "M-m--but aren't you in love with your old employer? But let's not mind common money matters. What do you think of the Johnnie Duncan for a vessel?" "She's a dog--a dog." "Isn't she! And the fastest, able-est and the handsomest vessel that ever sailed past Eastern Point, isn't she?" "That's what she is." "And who designed her?" "Who? Let me see. Oh, yes, some local man." "You don't know! Look up here. Who designed her!" "Oh, yes. 'Twas a Gloucester man." "A Gloucester man? Look up again. Now--who--de--signed--the--John--nie--Dun--can!" "Ouch, yes. A ver-y fine and a-ble--and handsome gen-tle-man--a wonderful man." "That's a little better. And his name?" "William Somers--William the Illustrious--William the First--'First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of Gloucestermen'--and if you let me stand up, I'll do a break-down to show you how glad I am." "Now you're showing something like appreciation. And now where do you suppose your friend Clancy is and your skipper?" "Clancy? Lord knows. Maybe in a circle of admiring friends, singing whatever is his latest. 'Hove flat down' was the last I heard. If it was earlier in the day--about three in the morning--it would be pretty sure to be that." "What a pity, and he such a fine man otherwise!" "What's a pity?" "Why, his getting drunk, as I hear he does very often."