spanking breeze with every stitch of canvas set. There were few
better yachtsmen than Phil Adams. He usually went sailing alone,
for both Langdon and Binny Wallace were under the same restrictions
I was.

Not long after the purchase of the boat, we planned an excursion to
Sandpeep Island, the last of the islands in the harbor. We purposed
to start early in the morning, and return with the tide in the
moonlight. Our only difficulty was to obtain a whole day's
exemption from school, the customary half-holiday not being long
enough for our picnic. Somehow, we could not work it; but fortune
arranged it for us. I may say here, that, whatever else I did, I
never played truant ("hookey" we called it) in my life.

One afternoon the four owners of the Dolphin exchanged significant
glances when Mr. Grimshaw announced from the desk that there would
be no school the following day, he having just received
intelligence of the death of his uncle in Boston. I was sincerely
attached to Mr. Grimshaw, but I am afraid that the death of his
uncle did not affect me as it ought to have done.

We were up before sunrise the next morning, in order to take
advantage of the flood-tide, which waits for no man. Our
preparations for the cruise were made the previous evening. In the
way of eatables and drinkables, we had stored in the stern of the
Dolphin a generous bag of hard-tack (for the chowder), a piece of
pork to fry the cunners in, three gigantic apple pies (bought at
Pettingil's), half a dozen lemons, and a keg of spring water--the
last-named articles were slung over the side, to keep it cool, as
soon as we got under way. The crockery and the bricks for our camp-