Even Sailor caught the infection, his big tongue shaking his jaws with the huge joke of it.
I don't know what they thought had happened to us, the three poor devils there on the jagged coral rock.

At all events the laughter did us good by relieving the tension of our feelings, and when at last we had recovered and the captain was at the wheel again, once more sober as a judge, you couldn't have believed such an outbreak possible of him.
The _Maggie Darling_ was sailing so fast that it hardly seemed necessary to trouble to call at Harbour Island; but, then, the wind might go down, our adventure was far from over, and gasolene might at any moment be a prime necessity.

So we kept her going, with her beautiful sails filled out against the bluest sky you can dream of, and the ripple singing at her bow--the loveliest sight and sound in the world for a man who loves boats and the sea.
"Is there anything like it, Tom ?" I asked.

"Do you read your Bible?
You should; it's the greatest book in the world." Tom hastened to acquiesce.
"You remember in the Book of Job?
_Three things are wonderful to me, The way of a ship on the sea, the way of an eagle in the air, and the way of a man with a maid._" "Ay, ay, sir," said Tom, "the way of a ship on the sea--but the way of a man with a maid--" "What's the matter with that, Tom ?" "They're all very pretty--just like the boat; but you'll not find one near so true.

We're better without them, if you ask my advice.