CHAPTER II
THE GENOESE SAILOR
"Here we are, Uncle Sam. We came early so there would be time for a good long story."
The old man sat reading his newspaper in the soft light of the setting sun. He looked up with a pleasant smile to greet the twins as they came arm in arm down the path.
"So you did not get too tired last night, Joe?" he replied. "I didn't know but that you would beg me to go back to fairy stories and leave true ones till you get older."
"Fairy stories indeed!" exclaimed the boy with a look of scorn. "Lucy and I both want to hear about real people. Don't we Lucy?"
"Of course; we said so last night, and we think so more than ever now. Have you made up your mind what to tell us next, Uncle Sam? But perhaps you want to finish your newspaper."
"Newspapers can wait till little folk are asleep in their beds, my darlings. Besides, I have a story all ready and waiting. It is knocking at the door of my mind this very moment and saying, 'Please let me out, please let me out.' So out it must come. There, Joe, stretch yourself comfortably in that hammock; and Lucy, take the steamer chair and draw it up close by my side. Now I hope you are both ready for a visit to another part of the world.
"We won't take any trunks, and there will be no sea-sickness, nor trouble of any kind. So let us start at once on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.