Nancy, child, why art thou so wild and reckless? Thou art the cause of
much anxiety."

At her mother's reproof, gentle though it was, poor Nancy flopped over
on her stomach, and, burying her face in her hands, gave way to tears.

"It 's all because I am so wicked," she moaned. "My sins are as
scarlet! Oh, Mother, dost think God will cause the lightning to strike
us dead to punish me?" She shuddered with fear as a flash shone
through the chinks of the logs and for an instant lighted the dim
loft.

Her mother put down the wet clothes and, lifting her little daughter
tenderly in her arms, laid her on her bed. "God maketh the rain to
fall on both the just and the unjust," she said soothingly. "Rest here
while I go down and get supper."

She covered her warmly with a homespun blanket, and, accompanied by
Dan, made her way down the ladder. She found her husband putting fresh
logs on the fire and stirring the coals to a blaze, while the Captain
hung his coat on the corner of the mantel-shelf to dry. She went up to
him and held out her hand. "Captain Sanders," she said, "but for thee
this might be a desolate household indeed this night."

The Captain's red face turned a deeper shade, and he fidgeted with
embarrassment, as he took her hand in his great red paw, then dropped
it suddenly as if it were hot. "Oh, stow it, ma'am, stow it," he
begged. "That is, I mean to say--why, by jolly, ma'am, a pirate could
do no less when he see a fine bit of cargo like that going to the
bottom!"