“Yes, if you can call a skiff that was smashed a shipwreck.”
“The skiff isn’t smashed,” drawled the sailor. “She’s just stove in. We’ll have her fixed up in no time and she’ll be as good as ever.”
“I’m fond myself of Mackinac Island,” continued the host. “I go over there some days and shut my eyes and try to imagine what it was like so many years ago when it was first discovered by the French.”
“They didn’t hold it very long,” suggested John.
“No, and we didn’t either.”
“Nor did the British in the War of 1812. They got it away from us just as they got it away from the French years ago. But after that war was ended it came back to us and nobody has been able to lay hands on it since.”
“You stay there all winter?” inquired the host, turning to the mate as he spoke.
“I do that.”
“I guess it’s pretty cold,” suggested Fred.
“You don’t need to ‘guess’ and you don’t need to say ‘pretty.’ It’s just cold. It’s so cold that when you toss an egg up into the air it just freezes and stays there.”