The Voyage of the Norman D.
China coast—says "you would think a pack of demons was loose on the sea." Mr. Rasmussen, by the way, has a forty-foot sloop of his own, and about every two weeks he goes off in it for the week-end, going over to Block Island to fish. He has promised me that I shall go with him on one of those trips sometime.
But, to go on with the story, Mother said to him: "I've got a daughter here who's gone crazy about boats. We thought you ought to know about all the sailing ships there are, and we wondered if you knew where there is a schooner or square-rigger that is working now."
Says he: "Why, yes, indeed. There's a nice little schooner come in New Haven now; she come in right ahead of me last Monday. She come down with lumber from Nova Scotia. Pretty boat, too—all white. I think her name is Norman D."
"Do you think there's any chance we could go aboard of her, mate?" I asked. (I liked to pretend that he had been a shipmate of mine.)
"Go aboard of her? Oh my, yes they'd be tickled to death to have a chance to show somebody the boat. The crew are all home boys, and I guess they're mighty lonely down here where they don't know anyone."
He gave us full instructions as to how to get to the schooner, and we resolved to go the next day. I
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