"No, the balloon was all right--'twas the topm'st was a bit light," answered Maurice.
Old Mr. Duncan smiled at that. "But what do you think of her, Captain Blake?"
"Oh, she's like all the rest of them when she's alone--sails like the devil," the skipper answered to that, but he smiled with it and we all knew he was satisfied with her.
That night was the Master Mariners' Ball, and I waited up till late to talk with my cousin Nell, who had gone there with Will Somers. Finally they came along past my house and I hailed them.
Nell broke right in as usual with what was uppermost in her mind. "I don't suppose you saw me and Alice, but we were in Mr. Duncan's office when you and Mr. Clancy and Captain Blake were coming up the dock to-day after the trial trip. Mr. Duncan told us what Captain B
