[Pg 8]

He told them all about the different craft they passed, the fishermen, the coal barges, the tramp steamers, how they sailed and where they went to, and now, finding them such good listeners, for the Captain liked to tell about ships and the sea, he launched forth into a general history of things connected with sea life, from the first men, long, long ago, who began poling about on rafts, to the coracle, and the dugout. The dugouts were canoes hollowed out of tree trunks.

"Down in the South Seas the savages still make them; I've seen them many a time," he explained; "and of course you've heard of our Indians' birchbark canoes."

By and by the use of sails had developed, and boats and ships grew bigger, and now the day of the steamboat had come.

"Now, I want you to know all about boats and ships," he added; "I'll take you to the yards to-morrow, if it's fine, and show you how they make them, so that when you go back home, where they don't know much about such things, you can just tell them."

[Pg 9]

THE SHIPYARD

The next day Captain Ben, true to his promise, took the children around to Stewart's Boat Shop where a fishing-boat was being built, and showed them just how the frame was made, the keel, the ribs, the stem, and sternpost, and how the planking was laid on. How everything was made as stiff and strong as possible so that the boat could stand the strain of being tossed about by heavy seas.

Bob followed it all with enthusiasm, for he was fond of carpentering and working with tools. He made up his mind that he would build a boat some day.

And now the Captain, having made eve