"A marble ship."

"A ship to carry marble?"

"No, a ship made of marble; a passenger ship. We have ships of iron, why
not of marble?" he asked fiercely.

"Oh, the fellow is mad!" said Lynde to himself, "as mad as a loon;
everybody here is mad, or I've lost my senses. So you are building a
marble ship?" he added aloud, good-naturedly. "When it is finished I
trust you will get all the inhabitants of this town into it, and put to
sea at once."

"Then you'll help me!" cried the man enthusiastically, with his eyes
gleaming in their sunken sockets. More than ever he looked like a
specimen escaped from some anatomical museum.

"I do not believe I can be of much assistance," answered Lynde,
laughing. "I have had so little experience in constructing marble
vessels, you see. I fear my early education has been fearfully
neglected. By the bye," continued the young man, who was vaguely
diverted by his growing interest in the monomaniac, "how do you propose
to move your ship to the seaboard?"

"In the simplest manner--a double railroad track--twenty-four engines--
twelve engines on each side to support the hull."

"That WOULD be a simple way."