“Ahoy there!”
Sweeter words were never heard by any girl.
“Ahoy there!” she called back.
A moment more, and four astonished seamen stared at a girl riding a drifting buoy.
* * * * * * * *
“What you doing on the buoy?” said the kind-hearted and grateful captain as Pearl climbed aboard the steamer and was surrounded by curious passengers.
“Why I—I was fishing. I caught a chicken halibut and——”
Of a sudden her eyes went wide; her dory and chicken halibut were gone.
“Yes, yes, go on,” said the eager members of the group. She succeeded in finishing her story, but all through the telling there flashed into her mind the picture of her dory and the only chicken halibut she had ever caught, drifting out to sea.
All up and down the deck, as they waited for the fog to lift, grateful passengers and crew repeated the girl’s story. And always at the end they added, “Lost her fish. Lost her dory. Too bad!”