Captain January | Page 5

Philistines, and I took a clam-shell for the jaw-bone; it did just
as well. And I made a song out of it, to one of the tunes you whistle:
'With the jaw-bone! with the jaw-bone! with the jaw-bone of an ass!' It
was very exciting."
"Must ha' been," said the Captain dryly. "Well, Honeysuckle, what did
you do then?"
"Oh, that took some time!" said the child. "And afterward I fished a
little, but I didn't catch anything, 'cept an old flounder, and he winked
at me, so I put him back. And then I thought a long time--oh! a very
long time, sitting like Patience on the doorstep. And _suddenly_,
Daddy Captain, I thought about those boxes of clothes, and how you

said they would be mine when I was big. And I measured myself
against the doorpost, and found that I was very big. I thought I must be
almost as big as you, but I s'pose I'd forgotten how big you were. So I
went up, and opened one box, and I was just putting the dress on when
you came in. You knew where it came from, of course, Daddy, the
moment you saw it."
The Captain nodded gravely, and pulled his long moustaches.
"Do you suppose my poor mamma wore it often?" the child went on,
eagerly. "Do you think she looked like me when she wore it? Do I look
as she did when you saw her?"
"Wal," began the Captain, meditatively; but Star ran on without waiting
for an answer.
"Of course, though, she looked very different, because she was dead.
You are quite very positively sure my poor mamma was dead, Daddy
Captain?"
"She were," replied the Captain, with emphasis. "She were that, Pigeon
Pie! You couldn't find nobody deader, not if you'd sarched for a week.
Why, door nails, and Julius Caesar, and things o' that description,
would ha' been lively compared with your poor ma when I see her.
Lively! that's what they'd ha' been."
The child nodded with an air of familiar interest, wholly untinged with
sadness. "I think," she said, laying her head against the old man's
shoulder, and curling one arm about his neck, "I think I should like to
hear about it again, please, Daddy. It's a long, long time since you told
me the whole of it."
"Much as a month, I should think it must be," assented the Captain.
"Why, Snowdrop, you know the story by heart, better'n I do, I believe.
'Pears to me I've told it reg'lar, once a month or so, ever since you were
old enough to understand it."
"Never mind!" said the Princess, with an imperious gesture. "That
makes no difference. I want it now!"
"Wal, wal!" said the Captain, smoothing back the golden hair. "If you
want it, why of course you must have it, Blossom! But first I must light
up, ye know. One star inside the old house, and the other atop of it:
that's what makes Light Island the lightest spot in the natural world. Sit
ye here, Star Bright, and play Princess till Daddy comes back!"

CHAPTER II
.
THE STORY
The lamps were lighted, and the long, level rays flashed their golden
warning over the murmuring darkness of the summer sea, giving cheer
to many hearts on inbound barque or schooner. Bright indeed was the
star on the top of the old lighthouse; but no less radiant was the face of
little Star, as she turned it eagerly towards Captain January, and waited
for the beginning of the well-known and well-loved story.
"Wal," said the Captain, when his pipe was refilled and drawing
bravely. "Let me see now! where shall I begin?"
"At the beginning!" said Star promptly.
"Jes' so!" assented the old man. "Ten years ago this--"
"No! No!!" cried the child. "That isn't the beginning, Daddy! That's
almost half-way to the middle. 'When I was a young lad.' That's the
beginning."
"Bound to have it all, are ye, Honeysuckle?" said the obedient Captain.
"Wal! Wal! when I were a young lad, I was a wild un, ye see, Treasure.
My father, he 'prenticed me to a blacksmith, being big and strong for
my years; but I hadn't no heart for the work. All I cared about was the
sea, and boats, and sailors, and sea talk. I ran away down to the wharf
whenever I could get a chance, and left my work. Why, even when I
went to meetin', 'stead o' listenin', to the minister, I was lookin' out the
places about them as go down to the sea in ships, ye know, and 'that
leviathan whom Thou hast made,' and all that. And there was Hiram,
King of Tyre, and his ships! Lord! how I used to think about them ships,