"That's right;" and Granny smiled tenderly over the boy's resolve.
"And I'll put on my old clothes to-morrow. Who knows but I may fall into the mackerel-barrel before to-morrow night?"
Kit laughed at this. "They'll have to fish you out with a harpoon, then."
"Oh! I might swim ashore."
The next day Joe improved rapidly. To be sure, he met with a mishap or two; but Mr. Terry excused him, and only charged him to be more careful in future. And Father Terry administered his unfailing consolation on every occasion.
But on Saturday night Joe came home in triumph.
"There's the beginning of my fortune," he said, displaying his dollar and a half all in hard cash. For that was a long while ago, when the eagle, emblem of freedom, used to perch on silver half-dollars.