“Oh, you’re welcome!” said Keeper Barney.
“How are all the folks at sea?” inquired Tom Walker.
“Does it look nat’ral round here?” asked Seavey Lowd.
“Altogether too nat’ral for me,” replied the arrival by this ocean air–line. “Ef we didn’t have a tough night!”
The man had now disembarked from this canvas–and–cork ship, and stood on the sands.
The keeper was hurriedly giving the order to “haul out,” when the stranger asked, “Haven’t ye suthin’ bigger and snugger ye could send out? Some of the folks there are awful weak.”
“Passengers?” inquired the keeper.
“Jest so.”
“All right. We will put on the life–car soon as we get some of the crew ashore. People can ride snug in that life–car. How long will your craft hold together?”