"I wish you would screw on some pegs I brought with me, to hang things upon. Everything does get thrown about so, when the ship's rolling. They are in that trunk, if you will not mind pulling it out."
Reuben pulled out the trunk, which the girl opened and, after some search, produced half-a-dozen iron clothes pegs. She showed him where she wished them screwed on, and stood looking on while he carried out her instructions.
"Are you the ship's carpenter?"
"Yes, miss."
"You seem very young for a carpenter, don't you?"
"I am young," Reuben replied, smiling, "and this is my first voyage. Fortunately for me, the hand who was engaged hurt himself, just as the vessel was sailing, so I obtained the berth. So far it does not appear that it is a difficult one."
The girl looked at him a little curiously. His manner of talk and conversation differed, so much, from the sailors in general.
"Are you really a carpenter?" she asked. "You don't look like a carpenter."
"Yes, I am really a carpenter," Reuben answered; "at least, I am a mill wright by trade. We are a sort of half and half between carpenter and smith.
"Is there anything else?" he asked, as he finished screwing the last screw.