"You sinner!" she scolded, taking his arm. "Why did you worry me, wandering round on such a bad, raw night?"

"That's all right," he boomed, in a voice of exhilaration. "She's never showed a light,—nary a flicker! An' there's the tug tootin' round for her! Not a flicker!"

The hoarse whistle sounded again in the stillness. Far out, a green coal moved over the face of the waters; a red coal joined it; both gleamed lustrous for a moment; then, with a bellow, the green vanished.

"Try again!" the captain advised satirically. "P'raps the Amirald's short o' karosene!"

"What's it all about?" asked the girl, tugging him homeward. "What have you been up to all this time?"

"Moon-cussin'," explained the culprit. "Jest a little moon-cussin'. In a few days I 'll tell ye, p'raps." He listened for sounds in a chill gust that staggered them. "Good noos, I think, Joyce girl. Aye, aye, home it is, then."