curiosities. The ear-trumpet always had a bouquet of dried flowers
stuffed in the big end, and I had supposed that it was a speaking-
trumpet. I thought the Captain had used it to shout orders
through, when his ship was going round Cape Horn in a gale. It
disappointed me to hear that it was nothing but his aunt's ear-
trumpet. And I couldn't see why Miss Hannah Pettingell, who had
only left the Captain her ear-trumpet (and the second-best one,
besides) had any right to have the boat's name changed in her
honor.

"I like the name, just as it is," I said.

"Do yer?" inquired the Captain. "Well, there's no accountin' for
tastes, as the man said when he found the monkey eatin' glue."

This seemed to be a joke on me. Ed and Jimmy joined the Captain in
laughing, and I felt rather put down. But we soon had something
else to think of, for we went on another tack to enter Sandy
Island River. A bridge crossed this river, not far from the mouth,
and the draw had to be turned to let us through. Ed Mason got a
long fish-horn from the cabin, and began to blow it. After a while
the old draw-tender, who lived in a shanty, quarter of a mile
away, came hobbling up the road. He slowly swung open the draw,
and then, as we approached the bridge, peered down at us.

"This yer new boat, Lem?" said he to the Captain.

"This is her, right enough," said our skipper.

"Sets kinder high in the water, don't she?"