Jimmy, snugly curled in his chair, was so still that Skipper Ed, silently smoking his pipe, believed his little partner asleep, when he was startled out of his musings by the request: "Partner, tell me a story." "A story, Partner?
What kind of a story?
One about the sea ?" "A story about people that live out there in the country Bobby came from, and you came from." "Oh, out there! Yes, to be sure!" Skipper Ed sat silent for a few moments, gazing at the flickering light through a crack in the stove door, while Jimmy sat expectant, gazing into Skipper Ed's face.

At last he began: "Once there were two boys who lived in a fine big house, for their father was rich.

The house was in a town, and it had a great many rooms.
In front of it was a beautiful green lawn, over which were scattered trees and bushes that bore flowers, and behind the house was a large garden where delicious fruits and vegetables grew, and where there were beautiful beds of bright flowers.

Under the shady trees of this garden was a favorite playground of the boys." "What were the names of the boys ?" interrupted Jimmy.
"We'll call them Tom and Bill, though these may not have been their real names," explained Skipper Ed.

"Tom and Bill are easy names to remember, though, don't you think so ?" "Yes, Partner, they're fine names, and easy to remember." "Tom was two years older than Bill, and they were great chums.