They had head-winds and storms, and they were so long at sea that some of
the food gave out. Worst of all, the salt gave out. It was dreadful, being
without salt. But the Captain happened to remember the Little Mill.

"Bring up the salt box!" he said to the cook. "We will have salt enough."

He set the Little Mill on deck, put the salt box under the spout, and
said,--

"Grind salt, Little Mill, and grind quickly!"

And the Little Mill ground beautiful, white, powdery salt. When they had
enough, the Captain said, "Now you may stop, Little Mill, and stop
quickly." The Little Mill kept on grinding; and the salt began to pile up
in little heaps on the deck. "I said, 'Stop,'" said the Captain. But the
Little Mill ground, and ground, faster than ever, and the salt was soon
thick on the deck like snow. The Captain called the Little Mill names and
told it to stop, in every language he knew, but the Little Mill went on
grinding. The salt covered all the decks and poured down into the hold,
and at last the ship began to settle in the water; salt is very heavy. But
just before the ship sank to the water-line, the Captain had a bright
thought: he threw the Little Mill overboard!

It fell right down to the bottom of the sea. _And it has been grinding
salt ever since._


BILLY BEG AND HIS BULL[1]