"Who's she? A new actress?"
"Yes, she's a 'she' I suppose, and she's going to have a big part in a drama. I'll tell you about it later."
The Mary Ellen certainly did not present a very trim appearance as the little party went aboard her at the dock in Erie Basin. The decks were cluttered up with an assortment of ropes, planks, casks, boxes and other things, so that it was impossible to move about without great care. On coming in sight of the craft Jack Jepson's face wore a look of expectancy.
"She might be the same Mary Ellen that I was on," he said.
But when he saw that the craft had three masts, whereas the ship where the mutiny had occurred boasted of five, Jack shook his head.
"She isn't th' same ship," he murmured.
Yet as he stepped on deck he gave a start, and an exclamation escaped his lips.
"What's the matter?" asked Alice, who was near him.
"Well, Miss, you may think it strange," he said, "but if I had my eyes shut, I'd say I was on my old ship—th' Mary Ellen I was tellin' you about."
"But she had five masts, and this one——"