"I know you are, my boy; but I want you to finish your school course very much." "I haven't thought a great deal about the matter yet, mother, but I think I shall be able to do what father told me." "Your father did not expect you to take care of us till you had grown up, I'm sure," added Mrs. Ramsay, who had heard the dying injunction of her husband to their son. "I don't know that he did; but I shall do the best I can." "Poor father! He never thought of anything but us," sighed Mrs. Ramsay; and her woman's tears flowed freely again, so freely that there was no power of utterance left to her. Donald wept, too, as he thought of him who was not only his father, but his loving companion in study, in work, and in play. He left the house and walked over to the shop. For the first time since the sad event, he unlocked the door and entered. The tears trickled down his cheeks as he glanced at the bench where his father had done his last day's work. The planes and a few other tools were neatly arranged upon it, and his apron was spread over them. On the walls were models of boats and yachts, and in one corner were the "moulds." Donald seated himself on the tool-chest, and looked around at every familiar object in the shop. He was thinking of something, but his thought had not yet taken definite form. While he was considering the present and the future, Samuel Rodman entered the shop. "Do you suppose I can get the model of the Sea Foam, Don John?" inquired he, after something had been said about the deceased boat-builder. "I think you can. The model and the drawings are all here," replied Donald. "We intend to build the Maud this season, and I want her to be as near like the Sea Foam as possible." "Who is going to build her?" asked Donald, his interest suddenly kindled by the question. "I don't know; we haven't spoken to any one about it yet," replied Samuel. "There isn't anybody in these parts that can build her as your father would." [Illustration: DON JOHN WANTS A JOB. Page 73.] "Sam, can't I do this job for you?" said Donald. "You?" "Yes, I. You know I used to work with my father, and I understand his way of doing things." "Well, I hadn't thought that you could do it; but I will talk with my father about it," answered Samuel, who appeared to have some doubts about the ability of his friend to do so large a job. "I don't mean to do it all myself, Sam. I will hire one or two first-rate ship carpenters," added Donald. "She shall be just like the Sea Foam, except a little alteration, which my father explained to me, in the bow and run." "Do you think you could do the job, Don John?" asked Samuel, with an incredulous smile. "I know I could," said Donald, earnestly. "If I had time enough I could build her all alone." "We want her as soon as we can get her." "She shall be finished as quick as my father could have done her."