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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 348761 
 
SEA URCHINS 
 
Br THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 MANY CARGOES 
 
 Crown Svo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 " I have just been reading Many Cargoes, by Mr. W. W. Jacobs, which has 
 made me laugh much and often. It is a collection of short stories, reprinted from 
 various periodicals, and dealing with men who go down to the sea in ships 
 of moderate tonnage ; stories told with such fresh and unforced fun that their 
 drollery is perfectly irresistible. I have never heard of Mr. W. W. Jacobs 
 before, and for anything I know this may be his first literary voyage, but I can 
 only Say that the sooner he puts to sea again and brings back more cargoes 
 of the same goods the better I shall be pleased." — Punch. 
 
 "When a bachelor with a healthy appetite takes up a book in the club 
 reading-room, after a hard day's work, and suddenly discovers that it is ten 
 o'clock, that he has forgotten all about his dinner, and that he is too sore in the 
 ribs to enjoy it, one may fairly argue that the book has merits of a peculiar 
 order. A similar conclusion may be drawn from the confession of an ardent 
 golfer in the course of a railway journey to a favourite Surrey green, that 
 if he read any more of the same book it would ' put him off his stroke.' 
 For the authenticity of these two incidents the present reviewer is prepared 
 to vouch, and hastens, for the benefit of all those who have not made the 
 acquaintance of the volume in question, to state that its name is Many Cargoes:, 
 a collection of short stories of seafaring life by W. W. Jacobs, an author 
 who, to judge from his first essay, is as richly equipped with the sense of 
 the ludicrous as any writer now before the public." — Spectator. 
 
 LAWRENCE & BULLEN, Ltd. 
 16, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London 
 
SEA URCHINS 
 
 wf W. JACOBS 
 
 Author or "Many Cargoes," "The Skipper's Wooing' 
 
 ETC, ETC, 
 
 LONDON 
 LAWRENCE AND BULLEN, Ltd. 
 
 1 6, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden 
 
/]7^i'7(] 
 
TO MY SISTER FLORENCE 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 SMOKED SKIPPER 
 
 I 
 
 A SAFETY MATCH 
 
 • 23 
 
 A RASH EXPERIMENT 
 
 . 44 
 
 THE CABIN PASSENGER 
 
 . . 67 
 
 "CHOICE SPIRITS" 
 
 . . 78 
 
 A DISCIPLINARIAN 
 
 . 106 
 
 beIdther HUTCHINS 
 
 . 117 
 
 THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET 
 
 . 130 
 
 RULE OF THREE 
 
 • 147 
 
 PICKLED HERRING 
 
 160 
 
 TWO OF A TRADE 
 
 . i6g 
 
 AN INTERVENTION 
 
 . 190 
 
 THE GREY PARROT 
 
 . 201 
 
 MONEY-CHANGERS 
 
 . 222 
 
 THE LOST SHIP 
 
 • 234 
 
SEA URCHINS 
 
 SMOKED SKIPPER 
 
 "TT CAPPING Old Stairs?" said the rough 
 
 V V individual, shouldering the bran-new sea- 
 chest, and starting off at a trot with it; "yus, I 
 know the place, captin. Fust v'y'ge, sir ? " 
 
 "Ay, ay, my hearty," replied the owner of the 
 chest, a small, ill-looking lad of fourteen. " Not 
 so fast with those timbers of yours. D'ye hear?" 
 
 ■'All right, sir," said the man, and, slackening 
 his pace, twisted his head round to take stock of 
 his companion. 
 
 " This ain't your fust v'y'ge, captin," he said 
 admiringly ; " don't tell me. I could twig that 
 directly I see you. Ho, what's the use o' trying 
 to come it over a poor 'ard-working man like 
 that?" 
 
 " I don't think there 's much about the sea I 
 don't know," said the boy in a satisfied voice. 
 " Starboard, starboard your helium a bit." 
 
 B 
 
2 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The man obeying promptly, they went the 
 remainder of the distance in this fashion, to the 
 great inconvenience of people coming from the 
 other direction. 
 
 "And a cheap 'arf-crown's worth, too, captin," 
 said the man, as he put the chest down at the 
 head of the stairs and thoughtfully sat on it 
 pending payment. 
 
 " I want to go off to the Susan Jane" said 
 the boy, turning to a waterman who was sitting 
 in his boat, holding on to the side of the steps 
 with his hand. 
 
 "All right," said the man, "give us a hold 
 o' your box." 
 
 " Put it aboard," said the boy to the other man. 
 
 " A' right, captin/' said the man, with a cheerful 
 smile, " but I '11 'ave my 'arf-crown fust if you don't 
 mind." 
 
 " But you said sixpence at the station," said the 
 boy. 
 
 " Two an' sixpence, captin," said the man, still 
 smiling, " but I 'm a bit 'usky, an' p'raps you didn't 
 hear the two — 'arf a crown 's the regler price. We 
 ain't allowed to do it under.'' 
 
 "Well, I won't tell anybody," said the boy. 
 
 " Give the man 'is 'arf-crown," said the waterman, 
 with sudden heat ; " that 's 'is price, and my fare 's 
 eigh-teen pence." 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 3 
 
 " All right," said the boy readily ; " cheap, 
 too. I didn't know the price, that's all. But I 
 can't pay either of you till I get aboard. I 've 
 only got sixpence. I '11 tell the captain to give 
 you the rest." 
 
 "Tell '00?" demanded the light-porter, with 
 some violence. 
 
 " The captain," said the boy. 
 
 " Look 'ere, you give me that 'arf-crown," said 
 the other, " else I '11 chuck your box overboard, an' 
 you after it." 
 
 "Wait a minute, then," said the boy, darting 
 away up the narrow alley which led to the stairs; 
 " I '11 go and get change." 
 
 " 'E 's goin' to change 'arf a suvren, or p'raps a 
 suvren," said the waterman; "you'd better make 
 it five bob, matey." 
 
 " Ah, an' you make yours more," said the light- 
 porter cordially. " Well , I 'm Well of all 
 
 the " 
 
 " Get off that box," said the big policeman who 
 had come back with the boy. "Take your six- 
 pence an' go. If I catch you down this way 
 again " 
 
 He finished the sentence by taking the fellow by 
 the scruff of the neck and giving him a violent push 
 as he passed him. 
 
 " Waterman's fare is threepence," he said to the 
 
4 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 boy, as the man in the boat, with an utterly- 
 expressionless face, took the chest from him. 
 " I '11 stay here till he has put you aboard." 
 
 The boy took his seat, and the waterman, 
 breathing hard, pulled out towards the vessels in 
 le tier. He looked at the boy and then at the 
 hgure on the steps, and, apparently suppressing a 
 strong inclination to speak, spat violently over the 
 side. 
 
 " Fine big chap, ain't he .? " said the boy. 
 
 The waterman, affecting not to hear, looked over 
 his shoulder, and pulled strongly with his left 
 towards a small schooner, from the deck of which 
 a couple of men were watching the small figure in 
 the boat. 
 
 " That 's the boy I was going to tell you about," 
 said the skipper, " and remember this 'ere ship 's a 
 pirate." 
 
 " It 's got a lot o' pirates aboard of it," said the 
 mate fiercely, as he turned and regarded the crew, 
 " a set o' lazy, loafing, idle, worthless " 
 
 " It 's for the boy's sake," interrupted the skipper. 
 
 " Where 'd you pick him up ? " inquired the other. 
 
 " He 's the son of a friend o' mine what I 've 
 brought aboard to oblige," replied the skipper. 
 "He's got a fancy for being a pirate, so just to 
 oblige his father I told him we was a pirate. He 
 wouldn't have come if I hadn't." 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 5 
 
 " I '11 pirate him," said the mate, rubbing his 
 hands. 
 
 " He 's a dreadful 'andful, by all accounts," con- 
 tinued the other ; " got his 'ed stuffed full o' these 
 'ere penny dreadfuls till they 've turned his brain 
 almost. He started by being an Indian, and goin' 
 off on 'is own with two other kids. When 'e 
 wanted to turn cannibal the other two objected, 
 and gave 'im in charge. After that he did a 
 bit o' burgling, and it cost 'is old man no end o' 
 money to hush it up." 
 
 " Well, what did you want him for ? " grumbled 
 the mate. 
 
 " I 'm goin' to knock the nonsense out of him," 
 said the skipper softly, as the boat grazed the side. 
 " Just step for'ard and let the hands know what 's 
 expected of 'em. When we get to sea it won't 
 matter." 
 
 The mate moved off grumbling, as the small fare 
 stood on the thwarts and scrambled up over the 
 side. The waterman passed up the chest, and 
 dropping the coppers into his pocket, pushed off 
 again without a word. 
 
 " Well, you 've got here all right, Ralph 1 " said 
 the skipper. " What do you think of her ? " 
 
 " She 's a rakish-looking craft," said the boy, 
 looking round the dingy old tub with much satis- 
 faction ; " but where 's your arms > " 
 
6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Hush ! " said the skipper, and laid his finger on 
 his nose. 
 
 "Oh, all right," said the youth testily, "but you 
 might tell me!' 
 
 "You shall know all in good time," said the 
 skipper patiently, turning to the crew, who came 
 shuffling up, masking broad grins with dirty 
 palms. 
 
 "Here's a new shipmate for you, my lads. 
 He 's small, but he 's the right stuff." 
 
 The new-comer drew himself up, and regarded 
 the crew with some dissatisfaction. For des- 
 peradoes they looked far too good-tempered and 
 prone to levity. 
 
 " What 's the matter with you, Jem Smithers 1 " 
 inquired the skipper, scowling at a huge fair-haired 
 man, who was laughing discordantly. 
 
 " I was thinkin' o' the last party I killed, sir," 
 said Jem, with sudden gravity. " I allers laugh 
 when I think 'ow he squealed." 
 
 "You laugh too much," said the other sternly, as 
 he laid a hand on Ralph's shoulder. " Take a 
 lesson from this fine feller; he don't laugh. He 
 acts. Take 'im down below an' show him 'is 
 bunk." 
 
 " Will you please to follow me, sir ? " said 
 Smithers, leading the way below. '' I dessay 
 you 'II find it a bit stuffy, but that 's owing to 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 7 
 
 Bill Dobbs. A regler old sea-dog is Bill, always 
 sleeps in 'is clothes and never washes." 
 
 " I don't think the worse of him for that," said 
 Ralph, regarding the fermenting Dobbs kindly. 
 
 " You 'd best keep a civil tongue in your 'ed, my 
 lad," said Dobbs shortly. 
 
 " Never mind 'im," said Smithers cheerfully ; 
 " nobody takes any notice o' old Dobbs. You can 
 'it 'im if you like. I won't let him hurt you." 
 
 " I don't want to start by quarrelling," said Ralph 
 seriously. 
 
 "You're afraid," said Jem tauntingly; "you'll 
 never make one of us. 'It 'im ; I won't let him 
 hurt you." 
 
 Thus aroused, the boy, first directing Dobbs' 
 attention to his stomach by a curious duck of 
 the head, much admired as a feint in his neigh- 
 bourhood, struck him in the face. The next 
 moment the forecastle was in an uproar and 
 Ralph prostrate on Dobbs' knees, frantically 
 reminding Jem of his promise. 
 
 " All right, I won't let him 'urt you;" said Jem 
 consolingly. 
 
 " But he is hurting me," yelled the boy. " He's 
 hurting me now." 
 
 " Well, wait till I get 'im ashore," said Jem, 
 " his old woman won't know him when I 've done 
 with him." 
 
8 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The boy's reply to this was a torrent of 
 shrill abuse, principally directed to Jem's facial 
 shortcomings. 
 
 "Now don't get rude," said the seaman, 
 grinning. 
 
 "Squint-eyes," cried Ralph fiercely. 
 
 " When you 've done with that 'ere young 
 gentleman, Dobbs," said Jem, with exquisite 
 politeness, " I should like to 'ave 'im for a little 
 bit to teach 'im manners.'' 
 
 "'E don't want to go," said Dobbs, grinning, 
 as Ralph clung to him. "He knows who's 
 kind to him." 
 
 " Wait till I get a chance at you," sobbed 
 Ralph, as Jem took him away from Dobbs. 
 
 " Lord lumme," said Jem, regarding him in 
 astonishment. " Why, he 's actooaly cryin'. I 've 
 seen a good many pirates in my time, Bill, but 
 this is a new sort." 
 
 "Leave the boy alone," said the cook, a fat, 
 good-natured man. " Here, come 'ere, old man. 
 They don't mean no 'arm." 
 
 Glad to escape, Ralph made his way over to 
 the cook, grinding his teeth with shame as that 
 worthy took him between his knees and mopped 
 his eyes with something which he called a 
 handkerchief. 
 
 " You '11 be all right," he said kindly. " You '11 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 9 
 
 be as good a pirate as any of us before you 've 
 finished." 
 
 "Wait till the first engagement, that's all," 
 sobbed the boy. " If somebody don't get shot 
 in the back it won't be my fault." 
 
 The two seamen looked at each other. " That 's 
 wot hurt my 'and then," said Dobbs slowly. " I 
 thought it was a jack-knife." 
 
 He reached over, and unceremoniously grabbing 
 the boy by the collar, pulled him towards him, 
 and drew a small cheap revolver from his pocket. 
 "Look at that, Jem." 
 
 "Take your fingers orf the blessed trigger 
 and then I will," said the other, somewhat 
 sourly. 
 
 " I '11 pitch it overboard," said Dobbs. 
 
 " Don't be a fool. Bill," said Smithers, pocket- 
 ing it, " that 's worth a few pints o' anybody's 
 money. Stand out o' the way Bill, the Pirit 
 King wants to go on deck." 
 
 Bill moved aside as the boy went to the ladder, 
 and allowing him to get up four or five steps, did 
 the rest for him with his shoulder. The boy 
 reached the deck on all fours, and, regaining a 
 more dignified position as soon as possible, went 
 and leaned over the side, regarding with lofty 
 contempt the busy drudges on wharf and river. 
 
 They sailed at midnight and brought up in 
 
lo SEA URCHINS. 
 
 the early dawn in Longreach, where a lighter 
 loaded with barrels came alongside, and the boy 
 smelt romance and mystery when he learnt that 
 they contained powder. They took in ten tons, 
 the lighter drifted away, the hatches were put 
 on, and they started once more. 
 
 It was his first voyage, and he regarded with 
 eager interest the craft passing up and down. 
 He had made his peace with the seamen, and 
 they regaled him with blood-curdling stories of 
 their adventures, in the vain hope of horrifying 
 him. 
 
 " 'E 's a beastly little rascal, that 's wot 'e is," 
 said the indignant Bill, who had surprised himself 
 by his powers of narration ; " fancy larfin' when 
 I told 'im of pitchin' the baby to the sharks." 
 
 '"E's all right, Bill," said the cook softly. 
 "Wait till you've got seven of 'em.'' 
 
 "What are you doing here, boy.''" demanded 
 the skipper, as Ralph, finding the seamen's yarns 
 somewhat lacking in interest, strolled aft with 
 his hands in his pockets. 
 
 " Nothing," said the boy, staring. 
 
 " Keep the other end o' the ship," said the 
 skipper sharply, "an' go an' 'elp the cook with 
 the taters." 
 
 Ralph hesitated, but a grin on the mate's face 
 decided him. 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. ii 
 
 " I didn't come here to peel potatoes," he said 
 loftily. 
 
 " Oh, indeed," said the skipper politely ; " an' 
 wot might you 'ave come for, if it ain't being 
 too inquisitive ? " 
 
 "To fight the enemy," said Ralph shortly. 
 
 " Come 'ere," said the skipper. 
 
 The boy came slowly towards him. 
 
 " Now look 'ere," said the skipper, " I 'm going 
 to try and knock a little sense into that stupid 
 'ed o' yours. I 've 'eard all about your silly 
 little games ashore. Your father said he couldn't 
 manage you, so I 'm goin' to have a try, and 
 you '11 find I 'm a very different sort o' man to 
 deal with to wot 'e is. The idea o' thinking 
 this ship was a pirate. Why, a boy your age 
 ought to know there ain't such things nowa- 
 days." 
 
 "You told me you was," said the boy hotly, 
 " else I wouldn't have come." 
 
 "That's just why I told you," said the skipper. 
 "But I didn't think you'd be such a fool as to 
 believe it. Pirates, indeed ! Do we look like 
 pirates ? " 
 
 "You don't," said the boy with a sneer; "you 
 look more like " 
 
 "Like wot?" asked the skipper, edging closer 
 to him. "Eh, like wot.?' 
 
12 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I forget the word," said Ralph, with strong 
 good sense. 
 
 " Don't tell any lies now," said the skipper, 
 flushing, as he heard a chuckle from the mate. 
 " Go on, out with it. I 'II give you just two 
 minutes." 
 
 " I forget it," persisted Ralph. 
 
 " Dustman ? " suggested the mate, coming to his 
 assistance. " Coster, chimbley - sweep, mudlark, 
 pick-pocket, convict, washer-wom " 
 
 " If you '11 look after your dooty, George, in- 
 stead o' interferin' in matters that don't concern 
 you," said the skipper in a choking voice, " I shall 
 be obliged. Now, then, you boy, what were you 
 going to say I was like .'' " 
 
 " Like the mate," said Ralph slowly. 
 
 " Don't tell lies,'' said the skipper furiously ; 
 "you couldn't 'ave forgot that word." 
 
 "I didn't forget it," said Ralph, "but I didn't 
 know how you 'd like it.'' 
 
 The skipper looked at him dubiously, and 
 pushing his cap from his brow scratched his 
 head. 
 
 "And I didn't know how the mate 'ud like it, 
 either,'' continued the boy. 
 
 He relieved the skipper from an awkward di- 
 lemma by walking off to the galley and starting 
 on a bowl of potatoes. The master of the Susan 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 13 
 
 Jane watched him blankly for some time and then 
 looked round at the mate. 
 
 "You won't get much change out of 'im," said 
 the latter, with a nod ; " insultin' little devil." 
 
 The other made no reply, but as soon as the 
 potatoes were finished set his young friend to 
 clean brass work, and after that to tidy the cabin 
 up and help the cook clean his pots and pans. 
 Meantime the mate went below and overhauled 
 his chest. 
 
 " This is where he gets all them ideas from," 
 he said, coming aft with a big bundle of penny 
 papers. " Look at the titles of 'em — ' The Lion 
 of the Pacific/ ' The One - armed Buccaneer,' 
 'Captain Kidd's Last Voyage.'" 
 
 He sat down on the cabin skylight and began 
 turning them over, and, picking out certain gems 
 of phraseology, read them aloud to the skipper. 
 The latter listened at first with scorn and then 
 with impatience. 
 
 "I can't make head or tail out of what you're 
 reading, George," he said snappishly. " Who was 
 Rudolph .'' Read straight ahead." 
 
 Thus urged, the mate, leaning forward so that 
 his listener might hear better, read steadily through 
 a serial in the first three numbers. The third 
 instalment left Rudolph swimming in a race with 
 three sharks and a boat-load of cannibals; and the 
 
14 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 joint efforts of both men failed to discover the 
 other numbers. 
 
 "Just wot I should 'ave expected of 'im,'' said 
 the skipper, as the mate returned from a fruitless 
 search in the boy's chest. " I '11 make him a bit 
 more orderly on this ship. Go an' lock them 
 other things up in your drawer, George. He's 
 not to 'ave 'em again." 
 
 The schooner was getting into open water now, 
 and began to feel it. In front of them was the 
 blue sea, dotted with white sails and funnels 
 belching smoke, speeding from England to worlds 
 of romance and adventure. Something of the 
 kind the cook said to Ralph, and urged him to 
 get up and look for himself He also, with the 
 best intentions, discussed the restorative proper- 
 ties of fat pork from a medical point of view. 
 
 The next few days the boy divided between 
 sea-sickness and work, the latter being the skipper's 
 great remedy for piratical yearnings. Three or 
 four times he received a mild drubbing, and, what 
 was worse than the drubbing, had to give an 
 answer in the affirmative to the skipper's inquirj' 
 as to whether he felt in a more wholesome frame 
 of mind. On the fifth morning they stood in 
 towards Fairhaven, and to his great joy he saw 
 trees and houses again. 
 
 They stayed at Fairhaven just long enough to put 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 15 
 
 out a small portion of their cargo, Ralph, stripped 
 to his shirt and trousers, having to work in the 
 hold with the rest, and proceeded to Lowport, a 
 little place some thirty miles distant, to put out 
 their powder. 
 
 It was evening before they arrived, and, the 
 tide being out, anchored in the mouth of the 
 river on which the town stands. 
 
 " Git in about four o'clock," said the skipper to 
 the mate, as he looked over the side towards the 
 little cluster of houses on the shore. "Do you 
 feel better now I 've knocked some o' that non- 
 sense out o' you, boy.''" 
 
 " Much better, sir," said Ralph respectfully. 
 
 "Be a good boy," said the skipper, pausing on 
 the companion-ladder, "and you can stay with us 
 if you like. Better turn in now, as you '11 have 
 to make yourself useful again in the morning 
 working out the cargo." 
 
 He went below, leaving the boy on deck. The 
 crew were in the forecastle smoking, with the 
 exception of the cook, who was in the galley 
 over a little private business of his own. 
 
 An hour later the cook went below to prepare 
 for sleep. The other two men were already in 
 bed, and he was about to get into his when he 
 noticed that Ralph's bunk, which was under his 
 own, was empty. He went up on deck and looked 
 
i6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 round, and, returning below, scratched his nose 
 in thought. 
 
 " Where 's the boy ? " he demanded, taking Jem 
 by the arm and shaking him. 
 
 " Eh .' " said Jem, rousing. " Whose boy ? " 
 
 " Our boy, Ralph," said the cook. " I can't 
 see 'im nowhere. I 'ope 'e ain't gone overboard, 
 pore little chap." 
 
 Jem refusing to discuss the matter, the cook 
 awoke Dobbs. Dobbs swore at him peacefully, 
 and resumed his slumbers. The cook went up 
 again and prowled round the deck, looking in 
 all sorts of unlikely places for the boy. He even 
 climbed a little way into the rigging, and, finding 
 no tr-aces of him, was reluctantly forced to the 
 conclusion that he had gone overboard. 
 
 " Pore little chap," he said solemnly, looking 
 over the ship's side at the still water. 
 
 He walked slowly aft, shaking his head, and 
 looking over the stern, brought up suddenly with 
 a cry of dismay and rubbed his eyes. The ship's 
 boat had also disappeared. 
 
 " Wot ? " said the two seamen as he ran below 
 and communicated the news. "Well, if it's gorn, 
 it 's gorn." 
 
 " Hadn't I better go an' tell the skipper ? " said 
 the cook. 
 
 " Let 'im find it out 'isself," said Jem, purring 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER 17 
 
 contentedly in the blankets. "It's 'is boat. Go' 
 night." 
 
 "Time we 'ad a noo 'un too," said Dobbs, 
 yawning. "Don't you worry your 'ed, cook, 
 about what don't consarn you." 
 
 The cook took the advice, and, having made 
 his few simple preparations for the night, blew 
 out the lamp and sprang into his bunk. Then 
 he uttered a sharp exclamation, and getting out 
 again fumbled for the matches and relit the lamp. 
 A minute later he awoke his exasperated friends 
 for the third time. 
 
 " S'elp me, cook," began Jem fiercely. 
 
 " If you don't I will," said Dobbs, sitting up 
 and trying to reach the cook with his clenched 
 fist. 
 
 "It's a letter pinned to my pillow," said the 
 cook in trembling tones, as he held it to the lamp. 
 
 " Well, we don't want to 'ear it," said Jem. 
 "Shut up, d'ye hear.?" 
 
 But there was that in the cook's manner which 
 awed him. 
 
 " Dear cook," he read feverishly, " I have made 
 an infernal machine with clockwork, and hid it 
 in the hold near the gunpowder when we were 
 at Fairhaven. I think it will go off between ten 
 and eleven to-night, but I am not quite sure about 
 the time. Don't tell those other beasts, but 
 
 C 
 
i8 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 jump overboard and swim ashore. I have taken 
 the boat. I would have taken you too, but you 
 told me you swam seven miles once, so you can 
 eas " 
 
 The reading came to an abrupt termination as 
 his listeners sprang out of their bunks, and, bolting 
 on deck, burst wildly into the cabin, and breath- 
 lessly reeled off the heads of the letter to its 
 astonished occupants. 
 
 " Stuck a wot in the hold .'' " gasped the skipper. 
 
 " Infernal machine," said the mate ; " one of 
 them things wot you blow up the 'Ouses of 
 Parliament with." 
 
 " Wot 's the time now ? " interrogated Jem 
 anxiously. 
 
 '"Bout ha'-past ten," said the cook trembling. 
 " Let 's give 'em a hail ashore." 
 
 They leaned over the side, and sent a mighty 
 shout across the water. Most of Lowport had gone 
 to bed, but the windows in the inn were bright, and 
 lights showed in the upper windows of two or three 
 of the cottages. 
 
 Again they shouted in deafening chorus, casting 
 fearful looks behind them, and in the silence a faint 
 answering hail came from the shore. They shouted 
 again like madmen, until listening intently they 
 heard a boat's keel grate on the beach, and then 
 the welcome click of oars in the rowlocks 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 19 
 
 "Make haste," bawled Dobbs vociferously, as 
 the boat came creeping out of the darkness. " W'y 
 don't you make 'aste ? " 
 
 " Wot 's the row ? " cried a voice from the boat. 
 
 " Gunpowder ! " yelled the cook frantically ; 
 "there's ten tons of it aboard just going to ex- 
 plode. Hurry up." 
 
 The sound of the oars ceased and a startled 
 murmur was heard from the boat ; then an oar was 
 pulled jerkily. 
 
 " They 're putting back," said Jem suddenly. 
 " I 'm going to swim for it. Stand by to pick 
 me up, mates," he shouted, and lowering himself 
 with a splash into the water struck out strongly 
 towards them. 
 
 Dobbs, a poor swimmer, after a moment's 
 hesitation, followed his example. 
 
 " I can't swim a stroke,'' cried the cook, his teeth 
 chattering. 
 
 The others, who were in the same predicament, 
 leaned over the side, listening. The swimmers 
 were invisible in the darkness, but their progress 
 was easily followed by the noise they made. Jem 
 was the first to be hauled on board, and a minute 
 or two later the listeners on the schooner heard 
 him assisting Dobbs, Then the sounds of strife, 
 of thumps, and wicked words broke on their 
 delighted ears. 
 
20 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "They're coming back for us," said the mate, 
 taking a deep breath. " Well done, Jem." 
 
 The boat came towards them, impelled by power- 
 ful strokes, and was soon alongside. The three men 
 tumbled in hurriedly, their fall being modified by 
 the original crew, who were lying crouched up in 
 the bottom of the boat. Jem and Dobbs gave way 
 with hearty goodwill, and the doomed ship receded 
 into the darkness. A little knot of people had 
 gathered on the shore, and, receiving the tidings, 
 became anxious for the safety of their town. It 
 was felt that the windows, at least, were in im- 
 minent peril, and messengers were hastily sent 
 round to have them opened. 
 
 Still the deserted Susan Jane made no sign. 
 Twelve o'clock struck from the little church at the 
 back of the town, and she was still intact. 
 
 Something 's gone wrong," said an old fisherman 
 with a bad way of putting things. "Now's the 
 time for somebody to go and tow her out to sea." 
 
 There was no response. 
 
 " To save Lowport,'' said the speaker feelingly. 
 " If I was only twenty years younger " 
 
 " It 's old men's work," said a voice. 
 
 The skipper, straining his eyes through the 
 gloom in the direction of his craft, said nothing. 
 He began to think that she had escaped after all. 
 
 Two o'clock struck, and the crowd began to dis- 
 
SMOKED SKIPPER. 21 
 
 perse. Some of the bolder inhabitants who were 
 fidgety about draughts closed their windows, and 
 children who had been routed out of their beds to 
 take a nocturnal walk inland were led slowly back. 
 By three o'clock the danger was felt to be over, and 
 day broke and revealed the forlorn Susan Jane still 
 riding at anchor. 
 
 " I 'm going aboard," said the skipper suddenly ; 
 " who 's coming with me .■' " 
 
 Jem and the mate and the town policeman 
 volunteered, and, borrowing the boat which had 
 served them before, pulled swiftly out to their 
 vessel, and, taking the hatches off with unusual 
 gentleness, commenced their search. It was nervous 
 work at first, but they became inured to it, and, 
 moreover, a certain suspicion, slight at first, but 
 increasing in intensity as the search proceeded, 
 gave them some sense of security. Later still they 
 began to eye each other shamefacedly. 
 
 " I don't believe there 's anything there," said the 
 policeman, sitting down and laughing boisterously ; 
 " that boy 's been making a fool of you." 
 
 " That 's about the size of it," groaned the mate. 
 " We '11 be the laughing-stock o' the town." 
 
 The skipper, who was standing with his back 
 towards him, said nothing ; but, peering about, 
 stooped suddenly, and, with a sharp exclamation, 
 picked up something from behind a damaged case. 
 
22 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I Ve got it," he yelled suddenly ; " stand 
 clear ! " 
 
 He scrambled hastily on deck, and, holding his 
 find at arm's length, with his head averted, flung it 
 far into the water. A loud cheer from a couple of 
 boats which were watching greeted his action, and 
 a distant response came from the shore. 
 
 "Was that a infernal machine.-'" whispered the 
 bewildered Jem to the mate. "Why, it looked to 
 me just like one o' them tins o' corned beef." 
 
 The mate shook his head at him and glanced at 
 the constable, who was gazing longingly over the 
 side. " Well, I 've 'card of people being killed by 
 tlieiii sometimes," he said with a grin. 
 
A SAFETY MATCH 
 
 MR. BOOM, late of the mercantile marine, 
 had the last word, but only by the 
 cowardly expedient of getting out of earshot of 
 his daughter first, and then hurling it at her 
 with a voice trained to compete with hurricanes. 
 Miss Boom avoided a complete defeat by leaning 
 forward with her head on one side in the attitude 
 of an eager but unsuccessful listener, a pose 
 which she abandoned for one of innocent joy 
 when her sire, having been deluded into twice 
 repeating his remarks, was fain to relieve his 
 overstrained muscles by a fit of violent coughing. 
 
 " I b'lieve she heard it all along," said Mr. 
 Boom sourly, as he continued his way down the 
 winding lane to the little harbour below. "The 
 only way to live at peace with wimmen is to 
 always be at sea ; then they make a fuss of you 
 when you come home — if you don't stay too 
 long, that is." 
 
 He reached the quay, with its few tiny cottages, 
 and brown nets spread about to dry in the sun, 
 
 23 
 
24 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 and walking up and down, grumbling, regarded 
 with jaundiced eye a few small smacks which 
 lay in the harbour, and two or three crusted 
 amphibians lounging aimlessly about. 
 
 " Mornin', Mr. Boom," said a stalwart youth 
 in sea-boots, appearing suddenly over the edge 
 of the quay from his boat. 
 
 " Mornin, Dick," said Mr. Boom affably; "just 
 goin' off.?" 
 
 " 'Bout an hour's time," said the other ; " Miss 
 Boom well, sir ? " 
 
 " She 's a' right," said Mr. Boom ; " me an' her 
 Ve just had a few words. She picked up some- 
 thing off the floor what she said was a cake o' 
 mud off my heel. Said she wouldn't have it," 
 continued Mr. Boom, his voice rising. " My own 
 floor too. Swep' it up off the floor with a 
 dustpan and brush, and held it in front of me 
 to look at." 
 
 Dick Tarrell gave a grunt which might mean 
 anything — Mr. Boom took it for sympathy. 
 
 " I called her old maid," he said with gusto ; 
 " ' you 're a fidgety old maid,' I said. You should 
 ha' seen her look. Do you know what I think, 
 Dick.?" 
 
 " Not exactly," said Tarrell cautiously. 
 
 ' I b'leeve she 's that savage that she 'd take 
 the first man that asked her," said the other 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 25 
 
 triumphantly ; " she '3 sitting up there at the 
 door of the cottage, all by herself." 
 
 Tarrell sighed. 
 
 " With not a soul to speak to," said Mr. Boom 
 pointedly. 
 
 The other kicked at a small crab which was 
 passing, and returned it to its native element in 
 sections. 
 
 " I '11 walk up there with you if you 're going 
 that way," he said at length. 
 
 " No, I 'm just having a look round," said Mr. 
 Boom, " but there 's nothing to hinder you going, 
 Dick, if you 've a mind to." 
 
 " There 's no little thing you want, as I 'm going 
 there, I s'pose.'" suggested Tarrell. "It's awkward 
 when you go there and say, ' Good-morning,' and 
 the girl says, ' Good-morning,' and then you don't 
 say any more and she don't say any more. If 
 there was anything you wanted that I could help 
 her look for, it 'ud make talk easier.'' 
 
 "Well — go for my baccy pouch," said Mr. 
 Boom, after a minute's thought, "it'll take you 
 a long time to find that." 
 
 "Why.?" inquired the other. 
 
 " 'Cos I 've got it here," said the unscrupulous 
 Mr. Boom, producing it, and placidly filling his 
 pipe. " You might spend — ah — the best part of 
 an hour looking for that." 
 
26 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 He turned away with a nod, and Tarrell, after 
 looking about hinn in a hesitating fashion to 
 make sure that his movements were not attract- 
 ing the attention his conscience told him they 
 deserved, set off in the hang-dog fashion peculiar 
 to nervous lovers up the road to the cottage. 
 Kate Boom was sitting at the door as her 
 father had described, and, in apparent uncon- 
 sciousness of his approach, did not raise her 
 eyes from her book. 
 
 " Good - morning," said Tarrell, in a husky 
 voice. 
 
 Miss Boom returned the salutation, and, mark- 
 ing the place in her book with her forefinger, 
 looked over the hedge on the other side of the 
 road to the sea beyond. 
 
 "Your father has left his pouch behind, and 
 being as I was coming this way, asked me to 
 call for it," faltered the young man. 
 
 Miss Boom turned her head, and, regarding 
 him steadily, noted the rising colour and the 
 shuffling feet. 
 
 " Did he say where he had left it ? " she inquired. 
 
 " No," said the other. 
 
 "Well, my time's too valuable to waste looking 
 for pouches," said Kate, bending down to her 
 book again, "but if you like to go in and look 
 for it, you may ! " 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 27 
 
 She moved aside to let him pass, and sat 
 listening with a slight smile as she heard him 
 moving about the room. 
 
 "I can't find it," he said, after a pretended 
 search. 
 
 "Better try the kitchen now then," said Miss 
 Boom, without looking up, " and then the scullery. 
 It might be in the woodshed or even down the 
 garden. You haven't half looked." 
 
 She heard the kitchen door close behind him, 
 and then, taking her book with her, went upstairs 
 to her room. The conscientious Tarrell, having 
 duly searched all the above-mentioned places, 
 returned to the parlour and waited. He waited 
 a quarter of an hour, and then going out by 
 the front door, stood irresolute. 
 
 " I can't find it," he said at length, addressing 
 himself to the bedroom window. 
 
 " No. I was coming down to tell you," said 
 Miss Boom, glancing sedately at him from over 
 the geraniums. " I remember seeing father take 
 it out with him this morning." 
 
 Tarrell affected a clumsy surprise. " It doesn't 
 matter," he said. " How nice your geraniums 
 are." 
 
 " Yes, they 're all right," said Miss Boom briefly. 
 
 " I can't think how you keep 'em so nice," said 
 Tarrell. 
 
28 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Well, don't try," said Miss Boom kindly. 
 " You 'd better go back and tell father about 
 the pouch. Perhaps he 's waiting for a smoke 
 all this time." 
 
 " There 's no hurry," said the young man ; 
 "perhaps he's found it." 
 
 " Well, I can't stop to talk," said the girl ; 
 " I 'm busy reading." 
 
 With these heartless words she withdrew into 
 the room, and the discomfited swain, only too 
 conscious of the sorry figure he cut, went slowly 
 back to the harbour, to be met by Mr. Boom 
 with a wink of aggravating and portentous 
 dimensions. 
 
 " You 've took a long time," he said slyly. 
 "There's nothing like a little scheming in these 
 things." 
 
 " It didn't lead to much," said the discomfited 
 Tarrell. 
 
 " Don't be in a hurry, my lad," said the elder 
 man, after listening to his experiences. " I 've 
 been thinking over this little aifair for some 
 time now, an' I think I 've got a plan." 
 
 "If it's anything about baccy pouches " 
 
 began the young man ungratefully. 
 
 " It ain't," interrupted Mr. Boom, " it 's quite 
 diff'rent. Now, you 'd best get aboard your craft 
 and do your duty. There's more young men 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 29 
 
 won girls' 'arts while doing of their duty than — 
 than — ^if they wasn't doing their duty. Do you 
 understand me ?" 
 
 It is inadvisable to quarrel with a prospective 
 father-in-law, so that Tarrell said he did, and 
 with a moody nod tumbled into his boat and 
 put off to the smack. Mr. Boom having walked 
 up and down a bit, and exchanged a few greet- 
 ings, bent his steps in the direction of the 
 "Jolly Sailor," and, ordering two mugs of ale, 
 set them down on a small bench opposite his 
 old friend Raggett. 
 
 " I see young Tarrell go off grumpy-like," said 
 Raggett, drawing a mug towards him and gazing 
 at the fast-receding boats. 
 
 "Ay, we'll have to do what we talked about," 
 said Boom slowly. " It 's opposition what that 
 gal wants. She simply sits and mopes for the 
 want of somebody to contradict her." 
 
 " Well, why don't you do it .'' " said Raggett. 
 "That ain't much for a father to do surely." 
 
 " I hev," said the other slowly, " more than 
 once. O' course, when I insist upon a thing, it's 
 done ; but a woman 's a delikit creeter, Raggett, 
 and the last row we had she got that ill that 
 she couldn't get up to get my breakfast ready, 
 no, nor my dinner either. It made us both ill, 
 that did." 
 
30 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Are you going to tell Tarrell ? " inquired 
 Raggett. 
 
 " No," said his friend. " Like as not he 'd tell 
 her just to curry favour with her. I 'm going to 
 tell him he 's not to come to the house no more. 
 That'll make her want him to come, if anything 
 will. Now there's no use wasting time. You 
 begin to-day." 
 
 "I don't know what to say," murmured Raggett, 
 nodding to him as he raised the beer to his lips. 
 
 "Just go now and call in- — you might take her a 
 nosegay." 
 
 " I won't do nothing so damned silly," said 
 Raggett shortly. 
 
 "Well, go without 'em," said Boom impatiently; 
 "just go and get yourselves talked about, that's all 
 —have everybody making game of both of you, 
 talking about a good-looking young girl being 
 sweethearted by an old chap with one foot in the 
 grave and a face like a dried herring. That's what 
 I want." 
 
 Mr. Raggett, who was just about to drink, put 
 his mug down again and regarded his friend 
 fixedly. 
 
 "Might I ask who you're alloodin' to.'" he 
 inquired somewhat shortly. 
 
 Mr. Boom, brought up in mid-career, shuffled a 
 little and laughed uneasily. "Them ain't my 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 31 
 
 words, old chap," he said ; " it was the way she 
 was speaking of you the other day." 
 
 "Well, I won't have nothin' to do with it," said 
 Raggett, rising. 
 
 " Well, nobody needn't know anything about it," 
 said Boom, pulling him down to his seat again. 
 " She won't tell, I 'm sure — she wouldn't like the 
 disgrace of it." 
 
 " Look here," said Raggett, getting up again. 
 
 " I mean from her point of view," said Mr. Boom 
 querulously ; " you 're very 'asty, Raggett." 
 
 " Well, I don't care about it," said Raggett 
 slowly; "it seemed all right when we was talking 
 about it ; but s'pose I have all my trouble for 
 nothing, and she don't take Dick after all ? What 
 then ? " 
 
 " Well, then there 's no harm done," said his 
 friend, " and it '11 be a bit o' sport for both of us. 
 You go up and start, an' I '11 have another pint of 
 beer and a clean pipe waiting for you against you 
 come back." 
 
 Sorely against his better sense Mr. Raggett rose 
 and went off, grumbling. It was fatiguing work 
 on a hot day, climbing the road up the cliff, but he 
 took it quietly, and having gained the top, moved 
 slowly towards the cottage. 
 
 " Morning, Mr. Raggett," said Kate cheerily, 
 as he entered the cottage. "Dear, dear, the 
 
32 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 idea of an old man like you climbing about ! 
 It's wonderful." 
 
 " I 'm sixty-seven," said Mr. Raggett viciously, 
 " and I feel as young as ever I did." 
 
 "To be sure," said Kate soothingly; "and look 
 as young as ever you did. Come in and sit down 
 a bit." 
 
 Mr. Raggett with some trepidation complied, 
 and sitting in a very upright position, wondered 
 how he should begin. " I am just sixty-seven," 
 he said slowly. " I 'm not old and I 'm not young, 
 but I 'm just old enough to begin to want some- 
 body to look after me a bit." 
 
 "I shouldn't while I could get about if I were 
 you," said the innocent Kate. "Why not wait 
 until you 're bed-ridden ? " 
 
 " I don't mean that at all," said Mr. Raggett 
 snappishly. " I mean I 'm thinking of getting 
 married." 
 
 "Good — gracious!" said Kate, open-mouthed. 
 
 " I may have one foot in the grave, and resemble 
 a dried herring in the face," pursued Mr. Raggett 
 with bitter sarcasm, " but " 
 
 " You can't help that," said Kate gently. 
 
 " But I 'm going to get married," said Raggett 
 savagely. 
 
 " Well, don't get in a way about it," said the 
 girl. "Of course, if you want to, and— and — 
 
A SAFETY MATCH 33 
 
 you can find somebody else who wants to, there 's 
 no reason why you shouldn't! Have you told 
 father about it?" 
 
 " I have," said Mr. Raggett, " and he has given 
 his consent." 
 
 He put such meaning into this remark, and so 
 much more in the contortion of visage which 
 accompanied it, that the girl stood regarding 
 him in blank astonishment. 
 
 " His consent ? " she said in a strange voice. 
 
 Mr. Raggett nodded. 
 
 " I went to him first,'' he said, trying to speak 
 confidently. " Now I 've come to you — I want 
 you to marry me ! " 
 
 "Don't you be a silly old man, Mr. Raggett," 
 said Kate, recovering her composure. "And as 
 for my father, you go back and tell him I want 
 to see him." 
 
 She drew aside and pointed to the door, and 
 Mr. Raggett, thinking that he had done quite 
 enough for one day, passed out and retraced his 
 steps to the "Jolly Sailor." Mr. Boom met him 
 half-way, and having received his message, spent 
 the rest of the morning in fortifying himself for 
 the reception which awaited him. 
 
 It would be difficult to say which of the two 
 young people was the more astonished at this 
 sudden change of affairs. Miss Boom, pretending 
 
 D 
 
34 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 to think that her parent's reason was affected, 
 treated him accordingly, a state of affairs not 
 without its drawbacks, as Mr. Boom found to his 
 cost Tarrell, on the other hand, attributed it to 
 greed, and being forbidden the house, spent all 
 his time ashore on a stile nearly opposite, sullenly 
 watching events. 
 
 For three weeks Mr. Raggett called daily, and 
 after staying to tea, usually wound up the evening 
 by formally proposing for Kate's hand. Both 
 conspirators were surprised and disappointed at 
 the quietness with which Miss Boom received 
 these attacks ; Mr. Raggett meeting with a 
 politeness which was a source of much wonder 
 to both of them. 
 
 His courting came to an end suddenly. He 
 paused one evening with his hand on the door, 
 and having proposed in the usual manner, was 
 going out, when Miss Boom called him back. 
 
 " Sit down, Mr. Raggett," she said calmly. Mr. 
 Raggett, wondering inwardly, resumed his seat. 
 
 "You have asked me a good many times to 
 marry you," said Kate. 
 
 " I have," said Mr. Raggett, nodding. 
 
 "And I 'm sure it 's very kind of you," continued 
 the girl, "and if I've hurt your feelings by refusing 
 you, it is only because I have thought perhaps I 
 was not good enough for you." 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 35 
 
 In the silence which followed this unexpected 
 and undeserved tribute to Mr. Raggett's worth, 
 the two old men eyed each other in silent 
 consternation. 
 
 " Still, if you 've made up your mind," continued 
 the girl, "I don't know that it's for me to object. 
 You're not much to look at, but you've got the 
 loveliest chest of drawers and the best furniture 
 all round in Mastleigh. And I suppose you've 
 got a little money.'" 
 
 Mr. Raggett shook his head, and in a broken 
 voice was understood to say: "A very little." 
 
 "I don't want any fuss or anything of that 
 kind," said Miss Boom calmly. "No brides- 
 maids or anything of that sort ; it wouldn't be 
 suitable at your age." 
 
 Mr. Raggett withdrew his pipe, and holding 
 it an inch or two from his mouth, listened like 
 one in a dream. 
 
 "Just a few old friends, and a bit of cake," 
 continued Miss Boom musingly. "And instead 
 of spending a lot of money in foolish waste, 
 we'll have three weeks in London." 
 
 Mr. Raggett made a gurgling noise in his throat, 
 and suddenly remembering himself, pretended to 
 think that it was something wrong with his 
 pipe, and removing it blew noisily' through the 
 mouthpiece. 
 
36 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Perhaps," he said, in a trembh'ng voice — " per- 
 haps you 'd better take a little longer to consider, 
 my dear." 
 
 Kate shook her head. " I 've quite made up 
 my mind," she said, " quite. And now I want 
 to marry you just as much as you want to 
 marry me. Good-night, father; good-night — 
 George." 
 
 Mr. Raggett started violently, and collapsed in 
 his chair. 
 
 " Raggett," said Mr. Boom huskily. 
 
 " Don't talk to me," said the other, " I can't 
 bear it." 
 
 Mr. Boom, respecting his friend's trouble, re- 
 lapsed into silence again, and for a long time not 
 a word was spoken. 
 
 " My 'ed 's in a whirl," said Mr. Raggett at 
 length. 
 
 " It 'ud be a wonder if it wasn't," said Mr. Boom 
 sympathetically. 
 
 " To think," continued the other miserably, 
 " how I 've been let in for this. The plots an' the 
 plans and the artfulness what's been goin' on 
 round me, an' I 've never seen it.'' 
 
 "What d'ye mean.?" demanded Mr. Boom, with 
 sudden violence. 
 
 " I know what I mean/' said Mr. Raggett 
 darkly. 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 37 
 
 " P'raps you '11 tell me then," said the other. 
 
 "Who thought of it first.?" demanded Mr. 
 Raggett ferociously. "Who came to me and 
 asked me to court his slip of a girl ? " 
 
 "Don't you be a old fool," said Mr. Boom 
 heatedly. " It 's done now, and what 's done can't 
 be undone. I never thought to have a son-in-law 
 seven or eight years older than what I am, and 
 what 's more, I don't want it." 
 
 " Said I wasn't much to look at, but she liked 
 my chest o' drawers," repeated Raggett mechan- 
 ically. 
 
 " Don't ask me where she gets her natur' from, 
 cos I couldn't tell you," said the unhappy parent; 
 " she don't get it from me.'' 
 
 Mr. Raggett allowed this reflection upon the 
 late Mrs. Boom to pass unnoticed, and taking his 
 hat from the table fixed it firmly upon his head, 
 and gazing with scornful indignation upon his 
 host, stepped slowly out of the door without going 
 through the formality of bidding him good-night. 
 
 " George," said a voice from above him. 
 
 Mr. Raggett started, and glanced up at some- 
 body leaning from the window. 
 
 "Come in to tea to-morrow early," said the 
 voice pressingly; "good-night, dear." 
 
 Mr. Raggett turned and fled into the night, 
 dimly conscious that a dark figure had detached 
 
38 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 itself from the stile opposite, and was walking 
 beside him. 
 
 " That you, Dick .' " he inquired nervously, after 
 an oppressive silence. 
 
 " That 's me," said Dick. " I heard her call you 
 ' dear.' " Mr. Raggett, his face suffused with 
 blushes, hung his head. 
 
 " Called you ' dear,' " repeated Dick ; '' I heard 
 her say it. I 'm going to pitch you in the harbour. 
 I '11 learn you to go courting a young girl. What 
 are you stopping for ? " 
 
 Mr. Raggett delicately intimated that he was 
 stopping because he preferred, all things con- 
 sidered, to be alone. Finding the young man, 
 however, bent upon accompanying him, he 
 divulged the plot of which he had been the 
 victim, and bitterly lamented his share in it. 
 
 " You don't want to marry her then .? " said the 
 astonished Dick. 
 
 " Course I don't," snarled Mr. Raggett ; " I can't 
 afford it. I 'm too old ; besides which, she '11 turn 
 my little place topsy-turvy. Look here, Dick, I 
 done this all for you. Now, it's evident she only 
 wants my furniture : if I give all the best of it to 
 you, she '11 take you instead." 
 
 " No, she won't," said Dick grimly ; " I wouldn't 
 have her now, not if she asked me on her bended 
 knee." 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 39 
 
 " Why not ? " said Raggett. 
 
 "I don't want to marry that sort o' girl," said 
 the other scornfully; "it's cured me." 
 
 "What about me then.?" said the unfortunate 
 Raggett. 
 
 "Well, so far as I can see it serves you right 
 for mixing in other people's business," said Dick 
 shortly. "Well, good-night, and good luck to 
 you." 
 
 To Mr. Raggett's sore disappointment he kept 
 to his resolution, and being approached by Mr. 
 Boom on his elderly friend's behalf, was rudely 
 frank to him. 
 
 " I'm a free man again," he said blithely, " and 
 I feel better than I 've felt for ever so long. More 
 manly.'' 
 
 " You ought to think of other people," said Mr. 
 Boom severely ; " think of poor old Raggett." 
 
 "Well, he's got a young wife out of it," said 
 Dick. " I dare say he '11 be happy enough. He 
 wants somebody to help him spend his money." 
 
 In this happy frame of mind he resumed his 
 ordinary life, and when he encountered his former 
 idol, met her with a heartiness and unconcern 
 which the lady regarded with secret disapproval. 
 He was now so sure of himself that, despite a 
 suspicion of ulterior design on the part of Mr. 
 Boom, he even accepted an invitation to tea. 
 
40 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The presence of Mr. Raggett made it a slow 
 and solemn function. Nobody with any feelings 
 could eat with an appetite with that afflicted 
 man at the table, and the meal passed almost in 
 silence. Kate cleared the meal away, and the 
 men sat at the open door with their pipes while 
 she washed up in the kitchen. 
 
 " Me an' Raggett thought o' stepping down to 
 the ' Sailor,' " said Mr. Boom, after a third appli- 
 cation of his friend's elbow. 
 
 " I '11 come with you," said Dick. 
 
 "Well, we 've got a little business to talk about," 
 said Boom confidentially ; "but we sha'n't be long. 
 If you wait here, Dick, we'll see you when we 
 come back." 
 
 "All right," said Tarrell. 
 
 He watched the two old men down the road, 
 and then, moving his chair back into the room, 
 silently regarded the busy Kate. 
 
 " Make yourself useful," said she brightly ; 
 "shake the tablecloth." 
 
 Tarrell took it to the door, and having shaken 
 it, folded it with much gravity, and handed it 
 back. 
 
 " Not so bad for a beginner," said Kate, taking 
 it and putting it in a drawer. She took some 
 needlework from another drawer, and, sitting 
 down, began busily stitching. 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 41 
 
 " Wedding-dress ? " inquired Tarrell, with an 
 assumption of great ease. 
 
 " No, tablecloth ! " said the girl, with a laugh. 
 " You '11 want to know a little more before you get 
 married." 
 
 " Plenty o' time for me," said Tarrell ; " I 'm in 
 no hurry." 
 
 The girl put her work down and looked up 
 at him. 
 
 " That 's right," she said staidly. " I suppose 
 you were rather surprised to hear I was going 
 to get married ? " 
 
 " A little," said Tarrell ; " there 's been so many 
 after old Raggett, I didn't think he'd ever be 
 caught." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Kate. 
 
 " I dare say he '11 make a very good husband," 
 said Tarrell patronisingly. " I think you '11 make 
 a nice couple. He's got a nice home." 
 
 " That 's why I 'm going to marry him," said 
 Kate. " Do you think it 's wrong to marry a man 
 for that.?" 
 
 "That's your business," said Tarrell coldly. 
 "Speaking for myself, and not wishing to hurt 
 your feelings, /shouldn't like to marry a girl like 
 that." 
 
 " You mean you wouldn't like to marry me .-' " 
 said Kate softly. 
 
42 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 She leaned forward as she spoke, until her 
 breath fanned his face. 
 
 " That 's what I do mean," said Tarrell, with a 
 suspicion of doggedness in his voice. 
 
 " Not even if I asked you on my bended knees ? " 
 said Kate. " Aren't you glad you 're cured .■' " 
 
 " Yes," said Tarrell manfully. 
 
 "So am I," said the girl; "and now that you 
 are happy, just go down to the 'Jolly Sailor,' and 
 make poor old Raggett happy too." 
 
 " How ? " asked Tarrell. 
 
 " Tell him that I have only been having a joke 
 with him," said Kate, surveying him with a steady 
 smile. " Tell him that I overheard him and father 
 talking one night, and that I resolved to give 
 them both a lesson. And tell them that I didn't 
 think anybody could have been so stupid as they 
 have been to believe in it." 
 
 She leaned back in her chair, and, regarding 
 the dumbfounded Tarrell with a smile of wicked 
 triumph, waited for him to speak. " Raggett, 
 indeed ! " she said disdainfully. 
 
 "I suppose," said Tarrell at length, speaking very 
 slowly, " my being stupid was no surprise to you ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," said the girl cheerfully. 
 
 " I '11 ask you to tell Raggett yourself," said 
 Tarrell, rising and moving towards the door. " I 
 " sha'n't see him. Good-night." 
 
A SAFETY MATCH. 43 
 
 " Good-night," said she. " Where are you going, 
 then.?" 
 
 There was no reply. 
 
 " Where are you going .' " she repeated. Then 
 a suspicion of his purpose flashed across her. 
 "You're not foolish enough to be going away.'" 
 she cried in dismay. 
 
 " Why not } " said Tarrell slowly. 
 
 "Because," said Kate, looking down — "oh, be- 
 cause — -well, it 's ridiculous. I 'd sooner have you 
 stay here and feel what a stupid you've been 
 making of yourself. I want to remind you of it 
 sometimes." 
 
 " I don't want reminding," said Tarrell, taking 
 Raggett's chair ; " I know it now." 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT 
 
 THE hands on the wharf had been working all 
 Saturday night and well into the Sunday 
 morning to finish the Foam, and now, at ten 
 o'clock, with hatches down and freshly-scrubbed 
 decks, the skipper and mate stood watching the 
 tide as it rose slowly over the smooth Thames 
 mud. 
 
 " What time 's she coming ? " inquired the skip- 
 per, turning a lazy eye up at the wharf. 
 
 "About ha'-past ten she said," replied the mate. 
 "It's very good o' you to turn out and let her 
 have your state-room." 
 
 " Don't say another word about that," said the 
 skipper impressively. " I 've met your wife once 
 or twice, George, an' I must say that a nicer 
 spoken woman, an' a more well-be'aved one, I 've 
 seldom seen." 
 
 "Same to you," said the mate; "your wife I 
 mean." 
 
 "Any man," continued the skipper, "as would 
 lay in a comfortable state-room, George, and leave 
 
 44 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 45 
 
 a lady a-trying to turn and to dress and ondress 
 herself in a poky little locker, ought to be 
 ashamed of himself" 
 
 " You see, it 's the luggage they bring," said the 
 mate, slowly refilling his pipe. " What they want 
 with it all I can't think. As soon as my old 
 woman makes up her mind to come for a trip, 
 to-morrow being Bank Holiday, an' she being in 
 the mind for a outing, what does she do .' Goes 
 down Commercial Road and buys a bonnet far 
 beyond her station." 
 
 " They 're all like it," said the skipper ; '' mine 's 
 just as bad. What does that boy want .' " 
 
 The boy approached the edge of the jetty, and, 
 peering down at them, answered for himself. 
 
 " Who 's Captain Bunnett .'' " he demanded 
 shrilly. 
 
 " That 's me, my lad," said the skipper, looking 
 up. 
 
 " I 've got a letter for yer," said the boy, holding 
 it out. 
 
 The skipper held out his hands and caught it; 
 and, after reading the contents, felt his beard and 
 looked at the mate. 
 
 "It never rains but it pours," he said figuratively. 
 
 " What 's up ? " inquired the other. 
 
 "'Ere's my old woman coming now," said the 
 skipper. " Sent a note to say she 's getting ready 
 
46 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 as fast as she can, an' I 'm not to sail on any 
 account till she comes." 
 
 " That 's awkward," said the mate, who felt that 
 he was expected to say something. 
 
 " It never struck me to tell her your wife was 
 coming," said the skipper. "Where we're to put 
 'em both I don't know. I s'pose it 's quite certain 
 your wife '11 come .-' " 
 
 " Certain," said the mate. 
 
 " No chance of 'er changing 'er mind .' " sug- 
 gested the skipper, looking away from him. 
 
 "Not now she's got that bonnet," replied the 
 mate. " I s'pose there 's no chance of your wife 
 changing hers .■■ " 
 
 The skipper shook his head. " There 's one 
 thing," he said hopefully, "they'll be nice company 
 for each other. They'll have to 'ave the state- 
 room between 'em. It 's a good job my wife ain't 
 as big as yours." 
 
 "We'll be able to play four 'anded wist some- 
 times,'' said the mate, as he followed the skipper 
 below to see what further room could be made. 
 
 " Crowded, but jolly," said the other. 
 
 The two cabs drove up almost at the same 
 moment while they were below, and Mrs. Bunnett's 
 cabman had no sooner staggered on to the jetty 
 with her luggage than Mrs. Fillson's arrived with 
 hers. The two ladies, who were entire strangers, 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 47 
 
 stood regarding each other curiously as they 
 looked down at the bare deck of the Foam. 
 
 "George!" cried Mrs. Fillson, who was a fine 
 woman, raising her voice almost to a scream in 
 the effort to make herself heard above the winch 
 of a neighbouring steamer. 
 
 It was unfortunate perhaps that both officers 
 of the schooner bore the same highly-respectable 
 Christian name. 
 
 "George!" cried Mrs. Bunnett, glancing in- 
 dignantly at the other lady. 
 
 "Ge-orge!" cried Mrs. Fillson, returning her 
 looks with interest. 
 
 " Hussy," said Mrs. Bunnett under her breath, 
 but not very much under. 
 
 " George ! " 
 
 There was no response. 
 
 " George ! " cried both ladies together. 
 
 Still no response, and they made a louder effort. 
 
 There was yet another George on board, in the 
 forecastle, and, in response to pushes from curious 
 friends below, he came up, and regarded the 
 fair duettists open-mouthed. 
 
 " What d' yer want } " he said at length 
 sheepishly. 
 
 "Will you tell Captain Bunnett that his wife, 
 Mrs. Bunnett, is here .'' " said that lady, a thin little 
 woman with bright black eyes. 
 
48 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Yes, mum," said the seaman, and was hurrying 
 off when Mrs. Fillson called him back. 
 
 "Will you tell Mr. Fillson that his wife, Mrs. 
 Fillson, is up here .'' " she said politely. 
 
 "All right, mum," said the other, and went 
 below to communicate the pleasing tidings. Both 
 husbands came up on deck hastily, and a glance 
 served to show them how their wives stood. 
 
 " How do you do, Cap'n Bunnett," said Mrs. 
 Fillson, with a fascinating smile. 
 
 " Good-morning, marm," said the skipper, trying 
 to avoid his wife's eye ; " that 's my wife, Mrs. 
 Bunnett." 
 
 " Good-morning, ma'am," said Mrs. Fillson, ad- 
 justing the new bonnet with the tips of her fingers. 
 
 "Good-morning to you," said Mrs. Bunnett in 
 a cold voice, and patronising. "You have come 
 to bring your husband some of his things, I 
 suppose.''" 
 
 " She 's coming with us," said the skipper, in a 
 hurry to have it over. " Wait half a moment, and 
 I '11 help you down." 
 
 He got up on to the side and helped them both 
 to the deck, and, with a great attempt at cheery 
 conversation, led the way below, where, in the 
 midst of an impressive silence, he explained that 
 the ladies would have to share the state-room 
 between them. 
 
so SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Well, it's too late to alter it," said her husband. 
 " I must get up above now ; you 'd better come too." 
 
 Mrs. Bunnett followed him on deck, and, getting 
 as far from the mate's wife as possible, watched 
 with a superior air of part ownership the move- 
 ments of the seamen as they got under way. A 
 favourable westerly breeze was blowing, and the 
 canvas once set she stood by her husband as he 
 pointed out the various objects of interest on the 
 banks of the river. 
 
 They were still in the thick of the traffic at 
 dinner-time, so that the skipper was able, to his 
 secret relief, to send the mate below to do the 
 honours of the table. He came up from it pale 
 and scared, and, catching the skipper's eye, 
 hunched his shoulders significantly. 
 
 " No words ? " inquired the latter anxiously, in 
 a half-whisper. 
 
 " Not exactly words," replied the mate. " What 
 you might call snacks." 
 
 " I know," said the other with a groan. 
 
 " If you don't now," said the mate, "you will at 
 tea-time. I 'm not going to sit down there with 
 them alone again. You needn't think it. If you 
 was to ask me what I 've been eating I couldn't 
 tell you." 
 
 He moved off a bit as his table companions came 
 up on deck, and the master of the Foam deciding 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 49 
 
 " That 's the only way out of it," said the mate, 
 after waiting in vain for them to say something. 
 
 '' It 's a fairish size when you come to look at 
 it," said the skipper, putting his head on one side 
 to see whether the bunk looked larger that way. 
 
 " Pack three in there at a pinch," said the mate 
 hardily. 
 
 Still the ladies said nothing, but there was a 
 storm-signal hoisted in Mrs. Bunnett's cheek, 
 which boded no good to her husband. There 
 was room only for one trunk in the state-room, 
 and by prompt generalship Mrs. Fillson got hers 
 in first. Having seen it safe she went up on deck, 
 for a look round. 
 
 " George," said Mrs. Bunnett fiercely, as soon as 
 they were alone. 
 
 " Yes, my dear," said her husband. 
 
 " Pack that woman off home," said Mrs. Bunnett 
 sharply. 
 
 "I couldn't do that," said the skipper firmly. 
 ''It's your own fault; you should have said you 
 was coming." 
 
 " Oh, I know you didn't want me to come," said 
 Mrs. Bunnett, the roses on her bonnet trembling. 
 "The mate can think of a little pleasure for his 
 wife, but I can stay at home and do your mending 
 and keep the house clean. Oh, I know ; don't tell 
 me." 
 
 E 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 51 
 
 to take the bull by the horns, called both of them 
 to him, and pointed out the beauties of the various 
 passing craft. In the midst of his discourse his 
 wife moved off, leaving the unhappy man convers- 
 ing alone with Mrs. Fillson, her face containing an 
 expression such as is seen in the prints of the very 
 best of martyrs as she watched them. 
 
 At tea-time the men sat in misery; Mrs. Bunnett 
 passed Mrs. Fillson her tea without looking at her, 
 an example which Mrs. Fillson followed in handing 
 her the cut bread and butter. When she took the 
 plate back it was empty, and Mrs. Bunnett, con- 
 vulsed with rage, was picking the slices out of her 
 lap. 
 
 " Oh, I am sorry," said Mrs. Fillson. 
 
 " You 're not, ma'am," said Mrs. Bunnett fiercely. 
 " You did it a purpose." 
 
 " There, there ! " said both men feebly. 
 
 " Of course my husband '11 sit quite calm and see 
 me insulted," said Mrs. Bunnett, rising angrily from 
 her seat. 
 
 " And my husband '11 sit still drinking tea while 
 I 'm given the lie," said Mrs. Fillson, bending an 
 indignant look upon the mate. 
 
 "If you think I 'm going to share the state-room 
 with that woman, George, you're mistaken," said 
 Mrs. Bunnett in a terrible voice. " I 'd sooner sleep 
 on a doorstep." 
 
52 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " And I 'd sooner sleep on the scraper," said Mrs. 
 Fillson, regarding her foe's scanty proportions. 
 
 "Very well, me an' the mate '11 sleep there,'' said 
 the skipper wearily. " You can have the mate's 
 bunk and Mrs. Fillson can have the locker. You 
 don't mind, George ? " 
 
 " Oh, George don't mind," said Mrs. Bunnett 
 mimickingly ; '' anything '11 do for George. If 
 you 'd got the spirit of a man, you wouldn't let 
 me be insulted like this." 
 
 " And if you 'd got the spirit of a man," said Mrs. 
 Fillson, turning on her husband, " you wouldn't let 
 them talk to me like this. You never stick up for 
 me." 
 
 She flounced up on deck where Mrs. Bunnett, 
 after a vain attempt to finish her tea, shortly 
 followed her. The two men continued their meal 
 for some time in silence. 
 
 " We '11 have to 'ave a quarrel just to oblige them, 
 George," said the skipper at length, as he put down 
 his cup. " Nothing else '11 satisfy 'em." 
 
 " It couldn't be done," said the mate, reaching 
 over and clapping him on the back. 
 
 "Just pretend, I mean," said the other. 
 
 "It couldn't be done proper," said the mate; 
 " they 'd see through it. We 've sailed together five 
 )'ears now, an' never 'ad what I could call a really 
 nasty word." 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. $3 
 
 " Well, if you can think o' anything," said the 
 skipper, " say so. This sort o' thing is worrying." 
 
 " See how we get on at breakfast," said the mate, 
 as he lit his pipe. " If that 's as bad as this, we '11 
 have a bit of a row to please 'em." 
 
 Breakfast next morning was, if anything, worse, 
 each lady directly inciting her lord to acts of open 
 hostility. In this they were unsuccessful, but in 
 the course of the morning the husbands arranged 
 matters to their own satisfaction, and at the next 
 meal the storm broke with violence. 
 
 " I don't wish to complain or hurt anybody's 
 feelings," said the skipper, after a side-wink at the 
 mate, " but if you could eat your wittles with a 
 little less noise, George, I 'd take it as a favour." 
 
 " Would you ? " said the mate, as his wife 
 stiffened suddenly in her seat. " Oh ! " 
 
 Both belligerents, eyeing each other ferociously, 
 tried hard to think of further insults. 
 
 " Like a pig," continued the skipper grumblingly. 
 
 The mate hesitated so long for a crushing re- 
 joinder that his wife lost all patience and rose to 
 her feet crimson with wrath. 
 
 How dare you talk to my husband like that .-' " 
 she demanded fiercely. " George, come up on deck 
 this instant ! " 
 
 " I don't mind what he says," said the mate, who 
 had only just begun his dinner. 
 
S4 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "You come away at once," said his wife, pushing 
 his plate from him. 
 
 The mate got up with a sigh, and, meeting the 
 look of horror-stricken commiseration in his 
 captain's eye, returned it with one of impotent 
 rage. 
 
 " Use a larger knife, cap'n,'' he said savagely. 
 " You '11 swallow that little 'un one of these days." 
 
 The skipper, with the weapon in question gripped 
 in his fist, turned round and stared at him in 
 petrified amazement. 
 
 " If I wasn't the cap'n o' this ship, George," he 
 said huskily, " an' bound to set a good example to 
 the men, I 'd whop you for them words." 
 
 " It 's all for your good. Captain Bunnett," said 
 Mrs. Fillson mincingly. " There was a poor old 
 workhouse man I used to give a penny to some- 
 times, who would eat with his knife, and he ..i-.oked 
 himself with it." 
 
 "Ay, he di^l fliat, and he hadn't got a mouth half 
 the size o* yours," said the mate warningly. 
 
 " Cap'n or no cap'n, crew or no crew," said the 
 skipper in a suffocating voice, " I can't stand this. 
 Come up on deck, George, and repeat them 
 words." 
 
 Before the mate could accept the invitation, he 
 VMS dragged back by his wife, while at the same 
 time Mrs. Bunnett, with a frantic scream, threw her 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 55 
 
 arms round her husband's neck, and dared him to 
 move. 
 
 " You wait till I get you ashore, my lad," said the 
 skipper threateningly. 
 
 " I '11 have to bring the ship home after I 've done 
 with you," retorted the mate as he passed up on 
 deck with his wife. 
 
 During the afternoon the couples exchanged not 
 a word, though the two husbands exchanged glances 
 of fiery import, and later on, their spouses being 
 below, gradually drew near to each other. The 
 mate, however, had been thinking, and as they 
 came together met his foe with a pleasant smile. 
 
 "Bravo, old man," he said heartily. 
 
 " What d' yer mean .■' " demanded the skipper in 
 gruff astonishment. 
 
 '' I mean the way you pretended to row me,'' said 
 the mate. " Splendid you did it. I tried to back 
 you up, but lor ! I wasn't in it with you." 
 
 " What, d' yer mean to say you didn't mean what 
 you said .'' " inquired the other. 
 
 " Why, o' course," said the mate with an appear- 
 ance of great surprise. " You didn't, did you ? " 
 
 " No," said the skipper, swallowing something in 
 his throat. " No, o' course not. But you did it 
 well, too, George. Uncommon well, you did." 
 
 "Not half so well as you did," said the mate. 
 "Well, I s'pose we've got to keep it up now." 
 
S6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I s'pose so," said the skipper ; " but we mustn't 
 keep it up on the same things, George. Swallerin' 
 knives an' that sort o' thing, I mean.'' 
 
 " No, no,'' said the mate hastily. 
 
 " An' if you could get your missus to go home 
 by train from Summercove, George, we might have 
 a little peace and quietness," added the other. 
 
 " She 'd never forgive me if I asked her," said the 
 mate ; " you '11 have to order it, cap'n." 
 
 " I won't do that, George," said the skipper 
 firmly. " I 'd never treat a lady like that aboard 
 my ship. I 'ope I know 'ow to behave myself if I 
 do eat with my knife." 
 
 " Stow that," said the mate, reddening. " We 'II 
 wait an' see what turns up," he added hopefully. 
 
 For the next three days nothing fresh transpired, 
 and the bickering between the couples, assumed 
 on the part of the men and virulent on the part 
 of their wives, went from bad to worse. It was 
 evident that the ladies preferred it to any other 
 amusement life on ship-board could offer, and, 
 after a combined burst of hysterics on their part, 
 in which the whole ship's company took a strong 
 interest, the husbands met to discuss heroic 
 remedies. 
 
 " It 's getting worse and worse," said the skipper 
 ruefully. "We'll be the laughing-stock o' the 
 crew even afore they 're done with us. There 's 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 57 
 
 another day afore we reach Summercove, there's 
 five or six days there, an' at least five back again." 
 
 " There '11 be murder afore, then," said the mate, 
 shaking his head. 
 
 " If we could only pack 'em both 'ome by train," 
 continued the skipper. 
 
 "That's an expense," said the mate. 
 
 " It 'ud be worth it," said the other. 
 
 "An' they wouldn't do it," said the mate, 
 " neither of 'em." 
 
 " I 've seen women having rows afore," said the 
 skipper, " but then they could get away from each 
 other. It's being boxed up in this little craft as 
 does the mischief." 
 
 " S'pose we pretend the ship 's not seaworthy," 
 said the mate. 
 
 " Then they 'd stand by us," said the skipper, 
 "closer than ever." 
 
 " I b'leeve they would," said the mate. " They 'd 
 go fast enough if we 'd got a case o' small-pox or 
 anything like that aboard, though." 
 
 The skipper grunted assent. 
 
 " It 'ud be worth trying," said the mate. "We 've 
 pretended to have a quarrel. Now just as we're 
 going into port let one of the hands, the boy if 
 you like, pretend he 's sickening for small-pox." 
 
 "How's he going to do it.'" inquired the 
 skipper derisively. 
 
58 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " You leave it to me," replied the other. " I 've 
 got an idea how it 's to be done.'' 
 
 Against his better judgment the skipper, after 
 some demur, consented, and the following day, 
 when the passengers were on deck gazing at the 
 small port of Summercove as they slowly 
 approached it, the cook came up excitedly and 
 made a communication to the skipper. 
 
 " What > " cried the latter. " Nonsense." 
 
 " What 's the matter ? " demanded Mrs. Bunnett, 
 turning round. 
 
 " Cook, here, has got it into his head that the 
 boy 's got the small-pox," said the skipper. 
 
 Both women gave a faint scream. 
 
 " Nonsense," said Mrs. Bunnett, with a pale face. 
 
 " Rubbish," said Mrs. Fillson, clasping her hands 
 nervously. 
 
 "Very good, mum," said the cook calmly. "You 
 know best, o' course, but I was on a barque once 
 what got it aboard bad, and I think I ou£-/ii to 
 know it when I see it." 
 
 " Yes ; and now you think everything 's the 
 small-pox," said Mrs. Bunnett uneasily. 
 
 "Very well, mum," said the cook, spreading out 
 his hands. '' Will you come down an' 'ave a /ook 
 at 'im .? " 
 
 "No," snapped Mrs. Bunnett, retreating a pace 
 or two. 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 59 
 
 "Will you come down an' 'ave a look at 'im, 
 sir," inquired the cook. 
 
 "You stay where you are, George," said Mrs. 
 Bunnett shrilly, as her husband moved forward. 
 " Go farther off, cook." 
 
 "And keep your tongue still when we get to 
 port," said the mate. " Don't go blabbing it all 
 over the place, mind, or we shan't get nobody to 
 work us out." 
 
 " Ay, ay," said the cook, moving off. " I ain't 
 afraid of it — I 've given it to people, but I 've 
 never took it myself yet." 
 
 " I 'm sure I wish I was off this dreadful ship," 
 said Mrs. Fillson nervously. " Nothing but un- 
 pleasantness. How long before we get to Summer- 
 cove, Cap'n Bunnett.'"' 
 
 " 'Bout a hour an' a 'arf ought to do it," said the 
 skipper. 
 
 Both ladies sighed anxiously, and, going as far 
 aft as possible, gazed eagerly at the harbour as it 
 opened out slowly before them. 
 
 " I shall go back by train," said Mrs. Bunnett. 
 " It 's a shame, having my holiday spoilt like this.'' 
 
 " It 's one o' them things what can't be helped," 
 said her husband piously. 
 
 "You'd better give me a little money," con- 
 tinued his wife. " I shall get lodgings in the town 
 for a day or tvvo, till I see how things are going." 
 
6o SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " It 'ud be better for you to get straight back 
 home," said the skipper. 
 
 " Nonsense," said his wife sharply. " Suppose 
 you take it yourself, I should have to be here to 
 see you were looked after. I 'm sure Mrs. Fillson 
 isn't going home." 
 
 Mrs. Fillson, holding out her hand to Mr. 
 Fillson, said she was sure she wasn't. 
 
 " It 'ud be a load off our minds if you did go," 
 said the mate, speaking for both. 
 
 "Well, we're not going for a day or two at any 
 rate," said Mrs. Bunnett, glancing almost amiably 
 at Mrs. Fillson. 
 
 In face of this declaration, and in view of 
 the persistent demands of the ladies, both men, 
 with a very ill grace furnished them with some 
 money. 
 
 " Don't say a word about it ashore, mind," said 
 the mate, avoiding his chief's indignant gaze. 
 
 " But you must have a doctor," said Mrs. 
 Bunnett. 
 
 "I know of a doctor here," said the mate; 
 " that 's all arranged for.'' 
 
 He moved away for a little private talk with 
 the skipper, but that gentleman was not in a con- 
 versational mood, and a sombre silence fell upon 
 all until they were snugly berthed at Summercove, 
 and the ladies, preceded by their luggage on a 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT 6i 
 
 trolly, went off to look for lodgings. They sent 
 down an hour later to say that they had found 
 them, and that they were very clean and comfort- 
 able, but a little more than they had intended to 
 give. They implored their husbands not to run 
 any unnecessary risks, and sent some disinfectant 
 soap for them to wash with. 
 
 For three days they kept their lodgings and 
 became fast friends, going, despite their anxiety, 
 for various trips in the neighbourhood. Twice a 
 day at least they sent down beef-tea and other 
 delicacies for the invalid, which never got farther 
 than the cabin, communication being kept up by 
 a small boy who had strict injunctions not to go 
 aboard. On the fourth day in the early morning 
 they came down as close to the ship as they dared 
 to bid farewell. 
 
 "Write if there's any change for the worse," 
 cried Mrs. Bunnett. 
 
 "Or if you get it, George," cried Mrs. Fillson 
 anxiously. 
 
 " It 's all right, he 's going on beautiful," said the 
 mate. 
 
 The two wives appeared to be satisfied, and 
 with a final adieu went ofif to the railway station, 
 turning at every few yards to wave farewells until 
 they were out of sight. 
 
 " If ever I have another woman aboard my 
 
62 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 ship, George," said the skipper, "I'll run into 
 something. Who 's the old gentleman ? " 
 
 He nodded in the direction of an elderly man 
 with white side-whiskers, who, with a black bag in 
 his hand, was making straight for the schooner. 
 
 " Captain Bunnett ? " he inquired sharply. 
 
 " That 's me, sir,'' said the skipper. 
 
 " Your wife sent me," said the tall man briskly. 
 "My name's Thompson — Dr. Thompson. She 
 says you 've got a case of small-pox on board 
 which she wants me to see." 
 
 " We 've got a doctor," said the skipper and 
 mate together. 
 
 " So your wife said, but she wished me par- 
 ticularly to see the case," said Dr. Thompson. 
 "It's also my duty as the medical officer of the 
 port." 
 
 " You 've done it, George, you 've done it," 
 moaned the panic-stricken skipper reproachfully. 
 
 " Well, anybody can malce a mistake," whispered 
 the mate back ; " an' he can't touch us, as it ain't 
 small-pox. Let him come, and we '11 lay it on to 
 the cook. Say he made a mistake.'' 
 
 " That 's the ticket,'' said the skipper, and turned 
 to assist the doctor to the deck as the mate hurried 
 below to persuade the indignant boy to strip and 
 go to bed. 
 
 In the midst of a breathless silence the doctor 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 63 
 
 examined the patient ; then, to the surprise of all, 
 he turned to the crew and examined them one 
 after the other. 
 
 " How long has this boy been ill .' " he de- 
 manded. 
 
 "About four days," said the puzzled skipper. 
 
 "You see what comes of trying to hush this 
 kind of thing up," said the doctor sternly. " You 
 keep the patient down here instead of having him 
 taken away and the ship disinfected, and now all 
 these other poor fellows have got it." 
 
 " What?" screamed the skipper, as the crew 
 broke into profane expressions of astonishment 
 and self-pity. " Got what ? " 
 
 " Why, the small-pox," said the doctor. " Got 
 it in its worst form too. Suppressed. There's 
 not one of them got a mark on him. It's all 
 inside." 
 
 " Well, I 'm damned," said the skipper, as the 
 crew groaned despairingly. 
 
 "What else did you expect.?" inquired the 
 doctor wrathfully. "Well, they can't be moved 
 now ; they must all go to bed, and you and the 
 mate must nurse them." 
 
 " And s'pose we catch it.''" said the mate feelingly. 
 
 " You must take your chance," said the doctor ; 
 then he relented a little. "I '11 -try to send a 
 couple of nurses down this afternoon," he added. 
 
64 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " In the meantime you must do what you can for 
 them." 
 
 " Very good, sir," said the skipper brokenly. 
 
 "All you can do at present," said the doctor, as 
 he slowly mounted the steps, " is to sponge them 
 all over with cold water. Do it every half-hour 
 till the rash comes out." 
 
 "Very good," said the skipper again. "But 
 you '11 hurry up with the nurses, sir 1 " 
 
 He stood in a state of bewilderment until the 
 doctor was out of sight, and then, with a heavy 
 sigh, took his coat off and set to work. 
 
 He and the mate, after warning off the men 
 who had come down to work, spent all the morn- 
 ing in sponging their crew, waiting with an im- 
 patience born of fatigue for the rash to come out. 
 This impatience was shared by the crew, the state 
 of mind of the cook after the fifth sponging call- 
 ing for severe rebuke on the part of the skipper. 
 
 " I wish the nurses 'ud come, George," he said, 
 as they sat on the deck panting after their 
 exertions ; " this is a pretty mess if you like." 
 
 " Seems like a judgment," said the mate wearily. 
 
 " Halloa, there," came a voice from the quay. 
 
 Both men turned and looked up at the speaker. 
 
 " Halloa," said the skipper dully. 
 
 " What 's all this about small-pox .■' " demanded 
 the new-comer abruptly. 
 
A RASH EXPERIMENT. 65 
 
 The skipper waved his hand languidly towards 
 the forecastle. 
 
 "Five of 'em down with it," he said quietly. 
 " Are you another doctor, sir ? " 
 
 Without troubling to reply, their visitor jumped 
 on board and went nimbly below, followed by the 
 other two. 
 
 "Stand out of the light," he said brusquely. 
 "Now, my lads, let's have a look at you." 
 
 He examined them in a state of bewilderment, 
 grunting strangely as the washed-out men sub- 
 mitted to his scrutiny. 
 
 " They 've had the best of cold sponging," said 
 the skipper, not without a little pride. 
 
 " Best of what .' " demanded the other. 
 
 The skipper told him, drawing back indignantly 
 as the doctor suddenly sat down and burst into a 
 hoarse roar of laughter. The unfeeling noise 
 grated harshly on the sensitive ears of the sick 
 men, and Joe Burrows, raising himself in his bunk, 
 made a feeble attempt to hit him. 
 
 " You 've been sold," said the doctor, wiping his 
 eyes. 
 
 " I don't take your meaning,'' said the skipper 
 with dignity. 
 
 "Somebody's been having a joke with you," 
 said the doctor. " Get up, you fools ; you 've got 
 about as much small-pox as I have." 
 
 F 
 
66 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me " began the 
 
 skipper. 
 
 "Somebody's been having a joke with you, I 
 tell you," repeated the doctor, as the men, with 
 sundry oaths, half of relief, half of dudgeon, got 
 out of bed and began groping for their clothes. 
 " Who is it, do you think .? " 
 
 The skipper shook his head, and the mate, 
 following his lead, in duty bound, shook his ; but 
 a little while after, as they sat by the wheel 
 smoking and waiting for the men to return to 
 work the cargo out, they were more confidential. 
 The skipper removed his pipe from his mouth, 
 and, having eyed the mate for some time in 
 silence, jerked his thumb in the direction of the 
 railway station. The mate, with a woe-begone 
 nod, assented. 
 
THE CABIN PASSENGER 
 
 THE captain of the Fearless came on to the 
 wharf in a manner more suggestive of deer- 
 stalking than that of a prosaic shipmaster return- 
 ing to his craft. He dodged round an empty 
 van, lurked behind an empty barrel, flitted from 
 that to a post, and finally from the interior of 
 a steam crane peeped melodramatically on to 
 the deck of his craft. 
 
 To the ordinary observer there was no cause for 
 alarm. The decks were a bit slippery but not 
 dangerous except to a novice; the hatches were 
 on, and in the lighted galley the cook might be 
 discovered moving about in a manner indicative 
 of quiet security and an untroubled conscience. 
 
 With a last glance behind him the skipper 
 descended from the crane and stepped lightly 
 aboard. 
 
 " Hist," said the cook, coming out quietly. "I've 
 been watching for you to come." 
 
 "Damned fine idea of watching you've got," 
 said the skipper irritably. " What is it ? " 
 67 
 
68 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The cook jerked his thumb towards the cabin. 
 " He 's down there," he said in a hoarse whisper. 
 "The mate said when you came aboard you was 
 just to go and stand near the companion and 
 whistle ' God Save the Queen ' and he '11 come 
 up to you to see what's to be done." 
 
 " Whistle ! " said the skipper, trying to moisten 
 his parched lips with his tongue. "I couldn't 
 whistle just now to save my life." 
 
 "The mate don't know what to do, and that 
 was to be the signal," said the cook. " He 's 
 darn there with him givin' 'im drink and amoosin' 
 'im." 
 
 " Well, you go and whistle it,'' said the skipper. 
 
 The cook wiped his mouth on the back of his 
 hand. " 'Ow does it go .■' " he inquired anxiously. 
 " I never could remember toons." 
 
 "Oh, go and tell Bill to do it!" said the skipper 
 impatiently. 
 
 Summoned noiselessly by the cook, Bill came 
 up from the forecastle, and on learning what was 
 required of him pursed up his lips and started 
 our noble anthem with a whistle of such richness 
 and volume that the horrified skipper was almost 
 deafened with it. It acted on the mate like a 
 charm, and he came from below and closed Bill's 
 mouth, none too gently, with a hand which shook 
 with excitement. Then, as quietly as possible, 
 
THE CABIN PASSENGER. 69 
 
 he closed the companion and secured the fasten- 
 ings. 
 
 " He 's all right," he said to the skipper breath- 
 lessly. " He 's a prisoner. He 's 'ad four goes 
 o' whisky, an' he seems inclined to sleep." 
 
 "Who let him go down the cabin.'" demanded 
 the skipper angrily. "It's a fine thing I can't 
 leave the ship for an hour or so but what I 
 come back and find people sitting all round my 
 cabin." 
 
 " He let hisself darn," said the cook, who saw 
 a slight opening advantageous to himself in con- 
 nection with a dish smashed the day before, "an' 
 I was that surprised, not to say alarmed, that 
 I dropped the large dish and smashed it." 
 
 " What did he say .-' " inquired the skipper. 
 
 "The blue one, I mean," said the cook, who 
 wanted that matter settled for good, "the one 
 with the place at the end for the gravy to run 
 into." 
 
 " What did he say ? " vociferated the skipper. 
 
 " 'E ses, ' 'UUo,' he ses, ' you Ve done it now, old 
 man,' " replied the truthful cook. 
 
 The skipper turned a furious face to the mate. 
 
 "When the cook come up and told me," said 
 the mate, in answer, " I see at once what was 
 up, so I went down and just talked to him clever 
 like." 
 
JO SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I should like to know what you said," muttered 
 the skipper. 
 
 " Well, if you think you can do better than I 
 did you 'd better go down and see him," retorted 
 the mate hotly. " After all, it 's you what 'e come 
 to see. He 's your visitor." 
 
 " No offence. Bob," said the skipper. " I didn't 
 mean nothing." 
 
 " I don't know nothin' o' horse racin'," con- 
 tinued the mate, with an insufferable air, "and 
 I never 'ad no money troubles in my life, bein' 
 always brought up proper at 'ome and warned 
 of what would 'appen, but I know a sheriff's 
 officer when I see 'im." 
 
 " What am I to do .' " groaned the skipper, too 
 depressed even to resent his subordinate's manner. 
 "It's a judgment summons. It's ruin if he gets 
 me. 
 
 "Well, so far as I can see, the only thing for 
 you to do is to miss the ship this trip," said the 
 mate, without looking at him. " I can take her 
 out all right." 
 
 " I won't," said the skipper, interrupting fiercely. 
 
 " Very well, you '11 be nabbed" said the mate. 
 
 "You've been wanting to handle this craft a 
 long time," said the skipper fiercely. " You could 
 ha' got rid of him if you'd wanted to. He's no 
 business down my cabin." 
 
THE CABIN PASSENGER. ^l 
 
 "I tried everything I could think of," assever- 
 ated the mate. 
 
 " Well, he 's come down on my ship without 
 being asked," said the skipper fiercely, "and, 
 damme, he can stay there. Cast off." 
 
 " But," said the mate, " s'pose " 
 
 " Cast off," repeated the skipper. " He 's come 
 on my ship, and I '11 give him a trip free." 
 
 "And where are you and the mate to sleep ? " 
 inquired the cook, who was a man of pessimistic 
 turn of mind, and given to forebodings. 
 
 " In your bunks," said the skipper brutally. 
 « Cast off there." 
 
 The men obeyed, grinning, and the schooner 
 was soon threading her way in the darkness down 
 the river, the skipper listening somewhat nervously 
 for the first intimation of his captive's awakening. 
 
 He listened in vain that night, for the prisoner 
 made no sign, but at six o'clock in the morning, 
 when the Fearless, coming within sight of the 
 Nore, began to dance like a cork upon the waters, 
 the mate reported hollow groans from the cabin. 
 
 "Let him groan," said the skipper briefly, "as 
 holler as he likes." 
 
 "Well, I'll just go down and see how he is," 
 said the mate. 
 
 "You stay where you are," said the skipper 
 sharply. 
 
72 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Well, but you ain't going to starve the 
 man ? " 
 
 "Nothing to do with me/' said the skipper 
 ferociously; "if a man likes to come down and 
 stay in my cabin, that's his business. I'm not 
 supposed to know he's there; and if I like to lock 
 my cabin up and sleep in a foc'sle what 's got more 
 fleas in it than ten other foc'sles put together, and 
 what smells worse than ten foc'sles rolled into 
 one, that's my business." 
 
 "Yes, but I don't want to berth for'ard too," 
 grumbled the other. " He can't touch me. I can 
 go and sleep in my berth." 
 
 " You '11 do what I wish, my lad," said the 
 skipper. 
 
 " I 'm the mate," said the other darkly. 
 
 "And I'm the master," said the other; "if the 
 master of a ship can stay down the foc'sle, I 'm 
 sure a tuppeny-ha'penny mate can." 
 
 "The men don't like it," objected the mate. 
 
 " Damn the men," said the skipper politely, 
 "and as to starving the chap, there's a water- 
 bottle full o' water in my state-room, to say 
 nothing of a jug, and a bag o' biscuits under the 
 table." 
 
 The mate walked off whistling, and the skipper, 
 by no means so easy in his mind as he pretended 
 to be, began to consider ways and means out of 
 
THE CABIN PASSENGER. 73 
 
 the difficulty which he foresaw must occur when 
 they reached port. 
 
 " What sort o' looking chap is he ? " he inquired 
 of the cook. 
 
 " Big, strong-looking chap," was the reply. 
 
 "Look as though he'd make a fuss if I sent 
 you and Bill down below to gag him when we 
 get to the other end .' " suggested the skipper. 
 
 The cook said that judging by appearances 
 " fuss " would be no word for it. 
 
 " I can't understand him keeping so quiet," said 
 the skipper; "that's what gets over me." 
 
 " He 's biding 'is time, I expect," said the cook 
 comfortingly. " He 's a 'ard looking customer, 
 'sides which he's likely sea-sick." 
 
 The day passed slowly, and as night approached 
 a sense of mystery and discomfort overhung the 
 vessel. The man at the wheel got nervous, and 
 flattered Bill into keeping him company by asking 
 him to spin him a yarn. He had good reason for 
 believing that he knew his comrade's stock of 
 stories by heart, but in the sequel it transpired 
 that there was one, of a prisoner turning into a 
 cat and getting out of the porthole and running 
 up helmsmen's backs, which he hadn't heard 
 before. And he told Bill in the most effective 
 language he could command that he never wanted 
 to hear it again. 
 
74 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The night passed and day broke, and still the 
 mysterious passenger made no sign. The crew 
 got in the habit of listening at the companion and 
 peeping through the skylight ; but the door of the 
 state-room was closed, and the cabin itself as 
 silent as the grave. The skipper went about with 
 a troubled face, and that afternoon, unable to 
 endure the suspense any longer, civilly asked the 
 mate to go below and investigate. 
 
 " I 'd rather not," said the mate, shrugging his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " I 'd sooner he served me and have done with 
 it," said the skipper. " I get thinking all sorts of 
 awful things." 
 
 "Well, why don't you go down yourself.''" said 
 the mate. "He'd serve you fast enough, I've no 
 doubt." 
 
 " Well, it may be just his artfulness,'' said the 
 skipper ; " an' I don't want to humour him if he 's 
 all right. I 'm askin' it as a favour, Bob." 
 
 " I '11 go if the cook '11 come," said the mate 
 after a pause. 
 
 The cook hesitated. 
 
 " Go on, cook," said the skipper sharply ; " don't 
 keep the mate waiting, and, whatever you do, don't 
 let him come up on deck." 
 
 The mate led the way to the companion, and, 
 opening it quietly, led the way below, followed by 
 
THE CABIN PASSENGER. 75 
 
 the cook. There was a minute's awful suspense, 
 and then a wild cry rang out below, and the 
 couple came dashing madly up on deck again. 
 
 " What is it .' " inquired the pallid skipper. 
 
 The mate, leaning for support against the wheel, 
 opened his mouth, but no words came ; the cook, 
 his hands straight by his side and his eyes glassy, 
 made a picture from which the crew drew back in 
 awe. 
 
 " What 's — the — matter ? " said the skipper again. 
 
 Then the mate, regaining his composure by an 
 effort, spoke. 
 
 " You needn't trouble to fasten the companion 
 again," he said slowly. 
 
 The skipper's face changed from white to gray. 
 " Why not .'' " he asked in a trembling voice. 
 
 " He 's dead," was the solemn reply. 
 
 " Nonsense," said the other, with quivering lips. 
 " He 's shamming or else fainting. Did you try to 
 bring him round ? " 
 
 "I did not," said the mate. " I don't deceive 
 you. I didn't stay down there to do no restoring, 
 and I don't think you would either." 
 
 " Go down and see whether you can wake him, 
 cook," said the skipper. 
 
 "Not me," said the cook with a mighty 
 shudder. 
 
 Two of the hands went and peeped furtively 
 
75 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 down through the skylight. The empty cabin 
 looked strangely quiet and drear, and the door of 
 the state-room stood ajar. There was nothing to 
 satisfy their curiosity, but they came back looking 
 as though they had seen a ghost. 
 
 "What's to be done.'" said the skipper 
 helplessly. 
 
 " Nothing can be done," said the mate. " He 's 
 beyond our aid." 
 
 " I wasn't thinking about him" said the skipper. 
 
 " Well, the best thing you can do when we get 
 to Plymouth is to bolt," said the mate. "We'll 
 hide it up as long as we can to give you a start. 
 It 's a hanging matter." 
 
 The hapless master of the Fearless wiped his 
 clammy brow. " I can't think he 's dead," he said 
 slowly. " Who '11 come down with me to see 1 " 
 
 "You'd better leave it alone," said the mate 
 kindly, " it ain't pleasant, and besides that we can 
 all swear up to the present that you haven't 
 touched him or been near him. 
 
 " Who '11 come down with me .'' " repeated the 
 skipper. " I believe it 's a trick, and that he '11 
 start up and serve me, but I feel I must go." 
 
 He caught Bill's eye, and that worthy seaman, 
 after a short tussle with his nerves, shuffled after 
 him. The skipper, brushing aside the mate, who 
 sought to detain him, descended first, and entering 
 
THE CABIN PASSENGER. ^^ 
 
 the cabin stood hesitating, with Bill close behind 
 him. 
 
 "Just open the door, Bill," he said slowly. 
 
 " Arter you, sir," said the well-bred Bill. 
 
 The skipper stepped slowly towards it and flung 
 it suddenly open. Then he drew back with a 
 sharp cry and looked nervously about him. The 
 bed was empty. 
 
 "Where's he gone.'" whispered the trembling 
 Bill. 
 
 The other made no reply, but in a dazed fashion 
 began to grope about the cabin. It was a small 
 place and soon searched, and the two men sat 
 down and eyed each other in blank amazement. 
 
 " Where is he >. " said Bill at length. 
 
 The skipper shook his head helplessly, and was 
 about to ascribe the mystery to supernatural 
 agencies when the truth in all its naked simplicity 
 flashed upon him and he spoke. " It 's the mate," 
 he said slowly, "the mate and the cook. I see 
 it all now; there's never been anybody here. It 
 was a little job on the mate's part to get the ship. 
 If you want to hear a couple o' rascals sized up, 
 Bill, come on deck." 
 
 And Bill, grinning in anticipation, went. 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS" 
 
 THE day was fine, and the breeze so light 
 that the old patched sails were taking the 
 schooner along at a gentle three knots per hour. 
 A sail or two shone like snow in the offing, and 
 a gull hovered in the air astern. From the cabin 
 to the galley, and from the galley to the untidy 
 tangle in the bows, there was no sign of anybody 
 to benefit by the conversation of the skipper and 
 mate as they discussed a wicked and mutinous 
 spirit which had become observable in the crew. 
 
 "It's sheer rank wickedness, that's what it 
 is," said the skipper, a small elderly man, with 
 grizzled beard and light blue eyes. 
 
 " Rank," agreed the mate, whose temperament 
 was laconic. 
 
 "Why, when I was a boy you wouldn't believe 
 what I had to eat," said the skipper ; " not if I 
 took my Bible oath on it, you wouldn't." 
 
 " They 're dainty,'' said the mate. 
 
 " Dainty ! " said the other indignantly. " What 
 right have hungry sailormen to be dainty ? Don't 
 78 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 79 
 
 I give tHem enough to eat? Look! Look 
 there ! " 
 
 He drew back, choking, and pointed with his 
 forefinger as Bill Smith, A.B., came on deck with 
 a plate held at arm's length, and a nose disdain- 
 fully elevated. He affected not to see the skipper, 
 and, walking in a mincing fashion to the side, 
 raked the food from the plate into the sea with 
 his fingers. He was followed by George Simpson, 
 A.B., who in the same objectionable fashion 
 wasted food which the skipper had intended 
 should nourish his frame. 
 
 " I '11 pay 'em for this 1 " murmured the skipper. 
 
 " There 's some more," said the mate. 
 
 Two more men came on deck, grinning con- 
 sciously, and disposed of their dinners. Then 
 there was an interval — an interval in which 
 everybody, fore and aft, appeared to be waiting 
 for something ; the something being at that 
 precise moment standing at the foot of the foc'sle 
 ladder, trying to screw its courage up. 
 
 "If the boy comes," said the skipper in a 
 strained, unnatural voice, "I'll flay him alive." 
 
 "You'd better get your knife out then," said 
 the mate. 
 
 The boy appeared on deck, very white about 
 the gills, and looking piteously at the crew for 
 support. He became conscious from their scowls 
 
8o SEA URCHINS. 
 
 that he had forgotten something, and remember- 
 ing himself, stretched out his skinny arms to their 
 full extent, and, crinkling his nose, walked with 
 great trepidation to the side. 
 
 " Boy ! " vociferated the skipper suddenly. 
 
 "Yessir," said the urchin hastily. 
 
 " Comm'ere," said the skipper sternly. 
 
 " Shove your dinner over first," said four low, 
 menacing voices. 
 
 The boy hesitated, then walked slowly towards 
 the skipper. 
 
 " What are you going to do with that dinner .' " 
 demanded the latter grimly. 
 
 " Eat it," said the youth modestly. 
 
 " What d' yer bring it on deck for, then ? ' 
 inquired the other, bending his brows on him. 
 
 " I thought it would taste better on deck, sir," 
 said the boy. 
 
 " Taste better ! " growled the skipper ferociously. 
 "Ain't it good.?" 
 
 " Yessir," said the boy. 
 
 " Speak louder," said the skipper sternly. " Is it 
 very good ? " 
 
 " Beautiful," said the boy in a shrill falsetto. 
 
 " Did you ever taste better wittles than you get 
 aboard this ship .? " demanded the skipper, setting 
 him a fine example in loud speaking. 
 
 " Never,'' yelled the boy, following it. 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 8i 
 
 " Everything as it should be ? " roared the 
 skipper. 
 
 " Better than it should be," shrilled the craven. 
 
 " Sit down and eat it," commanded the other. 
 
 The boy sat on the cabin skylight, and, taking 
 out his pocket-knife, began his meal with every 
 appearance of enjoyment, the skipper, with his 
 elbows on the side, and his legs crossed, regarding 
 him serenely. 
 
 " I suppose," he said loudly, after watching the 
 boy for some time, " I s'pose the men threw theirs 
 overboard becos they hadn't been used to such 
 good food .'' " 
 
 "Yessir," said the boy. 
 
 " Did they say so ? " bawled the other. 
 
 The boy hesitated, and glanced nervously for- 
 ward. " Yessir," he said at length, and shuddered 
 as a low, ominous growl came from the crew. 
 Despite his slowness, the meal came to an end at 
 last, and, in obedience to orders, he rose, and 
 taking his plate forward, looked entreatingly at 
 the crew as he passed them. 
 
 " Come down below," said Bill ; " we want to 
 have a talk with you." 
 
 " Can't," said the boy. " I 've got my work to 
 do. I haven't got time to talk." 
 
 He stayed up on deck until evening, and then, 
 the men's anger having evaporated somewhat, 
 
 G 
 
82 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 crept softly below, and climbed into his bunk. 
 Simpson leaned over and made a clutch at him, 
 but Bill pushed him aside. 
 
 " Leave him alone," said he quietly ; " we '11 take 
 it out of him to-morrow." 
 
 For some time Tommy lay worrying over the 
 fate in store for him, and then, yielding to fatigue, 
 turned over and slept soundly until he was 
 awakened some three hours later by the men's 
 voices, and, looking out, saw that the lamp was 
 alight and the crew at supper, listening quietly 
 to Bill, who was speaking. 
 
 " I 've a good mind to strike, that 's what I 've 
 a good mind to do," he said savagely, as, after an 
 attempt at the butter, he put it aside and ate dry 
 biscuit. 
 
 "An' get six months," said old Ned. "That 
 won't do. Bill." 
 
 "Are we to go a matter of six or seven days on 
 dry biscuit and rotten taters.?" demanded the 
 other fiercely. " Why, it 's slow sooicide." 
 
 " I wish one of you would commit sooicide," said 
 Ned, looking wistfully round at the faces, "that 'ud 
 frighten the old man, and bring him round a bit." 
 
 "Well, you're the eldest," said Bill pointedly. 
 
 "Browning's a easy death too," said Simpson 
 persuasively. "You can't have much enjoyment 
 in life at your age, Ned?" 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS. 83 
 
 "And you might leave a letter behind to the 
 skipper, saying as 'ow you was drove to it by bad 
 food," said the cook, who was getting excited. 
 
 " Talk sense ! " said the old man very shortly. 
 
 "Look here," said Bill suddenly. "I tell you 
 what we can do : let one of us pretend to commit 
 suicide, and write a letter as Slushy here ses, 
 saying as 'ow we're gone overboard sooner than 
 be starved to death. It 'ud scare the old man 
 proper ; and p'raps he 'd let us start on the other 
 meat without eating up this rotten stuff first." 
 
 "How's it to be done?" asked Simpson, 
 staring. 
 
 "Go an' 'ide down the fore 'old," said Bill. 
 "There's not much stuff down there. We'll take 
 off the hatch when one of us is on watch to-night, 
 and — whoever wants to — can go and hide down 
 there till the old man 's come to his senses. What 
 do you think of it, mates } " 
 
 " It's all right as an idea," said Ned slowly, " but 
 who 's going ? " 
 
 " Tommy," replied Bill simply. 
 
 "Blest if I ever thought of him," said Ned 
 admiringly; "did you, cookie.'" 
 
 "Never crossed my mind," said the cook. 
 
 " You see the best o' Tommy's going," said Bill, 
 "is that the old man 'ud only give him a flogging 
 if he found it out. We wouldn't split as to who 
 
84 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 put the hatch on over him. He can be there as 
 comfortable as you please, do nothing, and sleep 
 all day if he likes. O' course we don't know any- 
 thing about it, we miss Tommy, and find the letter 
 wrote on this table." 
 
 The cook leaned forward and regarded his 
 colleague favourably ; then he pursed his lips, 
 and nodded significantly at an upper bunk from 
 which the face of Tommy, pale and scared, looked 
 anxiously down. 
 
 "Halloa!" said Bill, "have you heard what 
 we 've been saying .'' " 
 
 " I heard you say something about going to 
 drown old Ned," said Tommy guardedly. 
 
 "He's heard all about it," said the cook severely. 
 "Do you know where little boys who tell lies go 
 to. Tommy .'' " 
 
 " I 'd sooner go there than down the fore 'old," 
 said Tommy, beginning to knuckle his eyes. " I 
 won't go. I '11 tell the skipper." 
 
 " No you won't," said Bill sternly. " This is 
 your punishment for them lies you told about 
 us to-day, an' very cheap you 've got off too. 
 Now, get out o' that bunk. Come on afore I 
 pull you out." 
 
 With a miserable whimper the youth dived 
 beneath his blankets, and, clinging frantically to 
 the edge of his berth, kicked convulsively as 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 85 
 
 he was lifted down, blankets and all, and accom- 
 modated with a seat at the table. 
 
 " Pen and ink and paper, Ned," said Bill. 
 
 The old man produced them, and Bill, first 
 wiping off with his coat-sleeve a piece of butter 
 which the paper had obtained from the table, 
 spread it before the victim. 
 
 " I can't write," said Tommy sullenly. 
 
 The men looked at each other in dismay. 
 
 " It 's a lie," said the cook. 
 
 " I tell you I can't," said the urchin, becoming 
 hopeful ; " that 's why they sent me to sea, becos 
 I couldn't read or write." 
 
 "Pull his ear. Bill," said Ned, annoyed at these 
 aspersions upon an honourable profession. 
 
 " It don't matter," said Bill calmly. " I '11 write 
 it for 'im ; the old man don't know my fist." 
 
 He sat down at the table, and, squaring his 
 shoulders, took a noisy dip of ink, and scratching 
 his head, looked pensively at the paper. 
 
 " Better spell it bad. Bill, suggested Ned. 
 
 "Ay, ay," said the other. "'Ow do you think a 
 boy would spell ' sooicide,' Ned ? " 
 
 The old man pondered. " S-o-o-e-y-s-i-d-e," 
 he said slowly. 
 
 " Why, that 's the right way, ain't it ? " inquired 
 the cook, looking from one to the other. 
 
 "We mustn't spell it right,'' said Bill, with 
 
86 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 his pen hovering over the paper. "Be careful, 
 Ned." 
 
 "We'll say 'killed myself instead," said the old 
 man. "A boy wouldn't use such a big word as 
 that p'raps." 
 
 Bill bent over his work, and, apparently 
 paying great attention to his friends' entreaties 
 not to write it too well, slowly wrote the 
 letter. 
 
 " How 's this ? " he inquired, sitting back in 
 his seat. 
 
 " ' Deer captin i take my pen in hand for the 
 larst time to innform you that i am no more 
 suner than heat the 'orrible stuff what you kail 
 meet i have drownded miself it is a moor easy 
 death than starvin' i 'ave left my clasp nife to 
 bill an' my silver wotch to it is 'ard too dee so 
 young tommie brown.' " 
 
 " Splendid ! " said Ned, as the reader finished 
 and looked inquiringly round. 
 
 " I put in that bit about the knife and the 
 watch to make it seem real," said Bill, with 
 modest pride; "but, if you like, I'll leave 'em 
 to you instead, Ned." 
 
 " I don't want 'em," said the old man generously. 
 
 " Put your does on," said Bill, turning to the 
 whimpering Tommy. 
 
 " I 'm not going down that fore 'old," said 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 87 
 
 Tommy desperately. "You may as well know 
 now as later on — I won't go." 
 
 " Cookie," said Bill calmly, "just 'and me them 
 does, will you .? Now, Tommy." 
 
 " I tell you I 'm not going to," said Tommy. 
 
 "An' that little bit o' rope, cookie," said Bill; 
 "it's just down by your 'and. Now, Tommy." 
 
 The youngest member of the crew looked from 
 his clothes to the rope, and from the rope back to 
 his clothes again. 
 
 " How 'm I goin' to be fed ? " he demanded 
 sullenly, as he began to dress. 
 
 " You '11 have a stone bottle o' water to take 
 down with you an' some biskits," replied Bill, 
 "an' of a night-time we'll hand you down some 
 o' that meat you 're so fond of. Hide 'em behind 
 the cargo, an' if you hear anybody take the hatch 
 off in the day-time, nip behind it yourself" 
 
 "An' what about fresh air.!"" demanded the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 "You'll 'ave fresh air of a night when the 
 hatch is took off," said Bill. "Don't you worry, 
 I 've thought of everything. 
 
 The arrangements being concluded, they waited 
 until Simpson relieved the mate at the helm, and 
 then trooped up on deck, half pushing and half 
 leading their reluctant victim. 
 
 "It's just as if he was going on a picnic," 
 
88 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 said old Ned, as the boy stood unwillingly on 
 the deck, with a stone bottle in one hand and 
 some biscuits wrapped up in an old newspaper 
 in the other. 
 
 " Lend a 'and, Bill. Easy does it." 
 
 Noiselessly the two seamen took off the hatch, 
 and, as Tommy declined to help in the pro- 
 ceedings at all, Ned clambered down first to 
 receive him. Bill took him by the scruff of the 
 neck and lowered him, kicking strongly, into 
 the hold. 
 
 "Have you got him.'"' he inquired. 
 
 " Yes,'' said Ned in a smothered voice, and, 
 depositing the boy in the hold, hastily clambered 
 up again, wiping his mouth. 
 
 " Been having a swig at the bottle ? " inquired 
 Bill. 
 
 " Boy's heel," said Ned very shortly. " Get the 
 hatch on." 
 
 The hatch was replaced, and Bill and his fellow 
 conspirator, treading quietly and not without some 
 apprehension for the morrow, went below and 
 turned in. Tommy, who had been at sea long 
 enough to take things as he found them, curled 
 up in the corner of the hold, and with his bottle as 
 a pillow fell asleep. 
 
 It was not until eight o'clock next morning 
 that the master of the Stmbeain discovered that 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 89 
 
 he was a boy short. He questioned the cook 
 as he sat at breakfast. The cook, who was a 
 very nervous man, turned pale, set the coffee-pot 
 down with a thump which upset some of the 
 liquor, and bolted up on deck. The skipper, after 
 shouting for him in some of the most alluring 
 swear words known on the high seas, went raging 
 up on deck, where he found the men standing in a 
 little knot, looking very ill at ease. 
 
 "Bill," said the skipper uneasily, "what's the 
 matter with that damned cook ? " 
 
 "'E's 'ad a shock, sir," said Bill, shaking his 
 head ; " we Ve all 'ad a shock." 
 
 " You '11 have another in a minute," said the 
 skipper emotionally. "Where's the boy?" 
 
 For a moment Bill's hardihood forsook him, 
 and he looked helplessly at his mates. In their 
 anxiety to avoid his gaze they looked over the 
 side, and a horrible fear came over the skipper. 
 He looked at Bill mutely, and Bill held out a dirty 
 piece of paper. 
 
 The skipper read it through in a state of stupe- 
 faction, then he handed it to the mate, who had 
 followed him on deck. The mate read it and 
 handed it buck. 
 
 " It 's yours," he said shortly. 
 
 " I don't understand it," said the skipper, 
 shaking his head. "Why, only yesterday he 
 
90 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 was up on deck here eating his dinner, and 
 saying it was the best meat he ever tasted. 
 You heard him, Bob .? " 
 
 " I heard him, pore little devil ! " said the mate. 
 
 " You all heard him," said the skipper. " Well, 
 there 's five witnesses I 've got. He must have 
 been mad. Didn't nobody hear him go over- 
 board ? " 
 
 " I 'card a splash, sir, in my watch," said Bill. 
 
 " Why didn't you run and see what it was .' " 
 demanded the other. 
 
 " I thought it was one of the chaps come up 
 to throw his supper overboard," said Bill simply. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the skipper, biting his lip, " did 
 you .'' You 're always going on about the grub. 
 What's the matter with it.?" 
 
 " It 's pizon, sir," said Ned, shaking his head. 
 "The meat's awful." 
 
 " It 's as sweet as nuts," said the skipper. 
 "Well, you can have it out of the other tank if 
 you like. Will that satisfy you .'' " 
 
 The men brightened up a little and nudged 
 each other. 
 
 " The butter 's bad too, sir," said Bill. 
 
 " Butter bad ! " said the skipper, frowning. 
 "How's that, cook.?" 
 
 " I ain't done nothing to it, sir," said the cook 
 helplessly. 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 91 
 
 "Give 'em butter out o' the firkin in the 
 cabin," growled the skipper. " It 's my firm 
 belief you'd been ill-using that boy; the food 
 was delicious." 
 
 He walked off, taking the letter with him, and, 
 propping it up against the sugar-basin, made but 
 a poor breakfast. 
 
 For that day the men lived, as Ned put it, 
 on the fat of the land, in addition to the other 
 luxuries figgy duff, a luxury hitherto reserved 
 for Sundays, being also served out to them. Bill 
 was regarded as a big-brained benefactor of the 
 human race ; joy reigned in the foc'sle, and at 
 night the hatch was taken off and the prisoner 
 regaled with a portion which had been saved for 
 him. He ate it ungratefully, and put churlish 
 and inconvenient questions as to what was to 
 happen at the end of the voyage. 
 
 "We'll smuggle you ashore all right," said 
 Bill; "none of us are going to sign back in this 
 old tub. I 'II take you aboard some ship with 
 me— Eh ? " 
 
 " I didn't say anything," said Tommy un- 
 truthfully. 
 
 To the wrath and confusion of the crew, next 
 day their commanding officer put them back on 
 the old diet again. The old meat was again 
 served out, and the grass-fed luxury from the 
 
92 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 cabin stopped. Bill shared the fate of all leaders 
 when things go wrong, and, from being the idol 
 of his fellows, became a butt for their gibes. 
 
 "What about your little idea now.-"' grunted 
 old Ned, scornfully, that evening as he broke 
 his biscuit roughly with his teeth, and dropped 
 it into his basin of tea. 
 
 "You ain't as clever as you thought you was, 
 Bill," said the cook with the air of a discoverer. 
 
 " And there 's that pore dear boy shut up in 
 the dark for nothing," said Simpson, with some- 
 what belated thoughtfulness. "An' cookie doing 
 his work." 
 
 "I'm not going to be beat," said Bill blackly; 
 " the old man was badly scared yesterday. We 
 must have another sooicide, that 's all." 
 
 " Let Tommy do it again," suggested the cook 
 flippantly, and they all laughed. 
 
 " Two on one trip '11 about do the old man 
 up," said Bill, regarding the interruption un- 
 favourably. " Now, who 's going to be the 
 next ? " 
 
 " We 've had enough o' this game," said 
 Simpson, shrugging his shoulders; "you've gone 
 cranky. Bill." 
 
 " No I ain't," said Bill ; " I 'm not going to 
 be beat, that 's all. Whoever goes down, they '11 
 have a nice, easy, lazy time. Sleep all day if 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 93 
 
 he likes, and nothing to do. Yoti ain't been 
 looking very well lately, Ned." 
 
 "Oh.?" said the old man coldly. 
 
 "Well, settle it between you," said Bill care- 
 lessly; "it's all one to me, which of you 
 goes." 
 
 " Ho, an' what about you V demanded Simpson. 
 
 " Me .? " inquired Bill in astonishment. " Why, 
 I've got to stay up here and manage it." 
 
 " Well, we '11 stay up and help you," said 
 Simpson derisively. 
 
 Ned and the cook laughed, Simpson joined 
 in. Bill rose, and, going to his bunk, fished 
 out a pack of greasy cards from beneath his 
 bedding. 
 
 " Larst cut, sooicide," he said briefly. " I 'm 
 in it." 
 
 He held the pack before the cook. The cook 
 hesitated, and looked at the other two. 
 
 "Don't be a fool, Bill," said Simpson. 
 
 "Why, do you funk it.?" sneered Bill. 
 
 " It 's a fool's game, I tell you," said Simpson. 
 
 "Well, you 'elped me start it," said the other. 
 " You 're afraid, that 's what you are, afraid. 
 You can let the boy go down there, but when 
 it comes to yourselves you turn chicken-'arted." 
 
 "All right," said Simpson recklessly, "let Bill 
 'ave 'is way ; cut, cookie." 
 
94 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 Sorely against his will the cook complied, 
 and drew a ten ; Ned, after much argument, 
 cut and drew seven ; Simpson, with a king in 
 his fist, leaned back on the locker and fingered 
 his beard nonchalantly. "Go on, Bill," he said; 
 "see what you can do." 
 
 Bill took the pack and shuffled it. " I orter 
 be able to beat seven," he said slowly. He 
 handed the pack to Ned, drew a card, and the 
 other three sat back and laughed boisterously. 
 
 "Three!" said Simpson. "Bravo, Bill! I'll 
 write your letter for you ; he 'd know your 
 writing. What shall I say?" 
 
 " Say what you like," retorted Bill, breathing 
 hard as he thought of the hold. 
 
 He sat back sneering disdainfully, as the other 
 three merrily sat down to compose his letter, 
 replying only by a contemptuous silence when 
 Simpson asked him whether he wanted any 
 kisses put in. When the letter was handed over 
 for his inspection he only made one remark. 
 
 " I thought you could write better than that, 
 George," he said haughtily. 
 
 " I 'm writing it for you," said Simpson. 
 
 Bill's hauteur vanished and he became his old 
 self again. " If you want a plug in the eye, 
 George," he said feelingly, " you 've only got to 
 say so, you know.'' 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 95 
 
 His temper was so unpleasant that half the 
 pleasure of the evening was spoiled, and instead 
 of being conducted to his hiding-place with quips 
 and light laughter, the proceedings were more 
 like a funeral than anything else. The crowning 
 touch to his ill-nature was furnished by Tommy, 
 who upon coming up and learning that Bill was 
 to be his room-mate, gave way to a fit of the 
 most unfeigned horror. 
 
 "There's another letter for you this morning," 
 said the mate, as the skipper came out of his 
 state-room buttoning up his waistcoat. 
 
 " Another what .' " demanded the other, turning 
 pale. 
 
 The mate jerked his thumb upwards. " Old 
 Ned has got it," he continued. "I can't think 
 what's come over the men." 
 
 The skipper dashed up on deck, and mechanic- 
 ally took the letter from Ned and read it 
 through. He stood for some time like a man in 
 a dream, and then stumbled down the forecastle, 
 and looked in all the bunks and even under 
 the table ; then he came up and stood by the 
 hold, with his head on one side. The men held 
 their breath. 
 
 " What 's the meaning of all this .' " he demanded 
 at length, sitting limply on the hatch, with his 
 eyes down. 
 
96 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Bad grub, sir," said Simpson, gaining courage 
 from his manner; "that's what we'll have to 
 say when we get ashore.'' 
 
 " You 're not to say a word about it ! " said 
 the other, firing up. 
 
 " It 's our dooty, sir,'' said Ned impressively. 
 
 " Look here now," said the skipper, and he 
 looked at the remaining members of the crew 
 entreatingly. " Don't let 's have no more suicides. 
 The old meat 's gone now, and you can start the 
 other, and when we get to port I '11 ship in some 
 fresh butter and vegetables. But I don't want 
 you to say anything about the food being bad, 
 or about these letters, when we get to port. I 
 shall simply say the two of 'em disappeared, an' 
 I want you to say the same." 
 
 " It can't be done, sir," said Simpson firmly. 
 
 The skipper rose and walked to the side. 
 " Would a fi'pun note make any difference ? " he 
 asked in a low voice. 
 
 " It 'ud make a little difference," said Ned 
 cautiously. 
 
 The skipper looked up at Simpson. On the 
 face of Simpson was an expression of virtuous 
 arithmetical determination. 
 
 The skipper looked down again. " Or a fi'pun 
 note each ? " he said, in a low voice. " I can't go 
 beyond that." 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 97 
 
 " Call it twenty pun and it 's a bargain, ain't it, 
 mates ? " said Simpson. 
 
 Ned said it was, and even the cook forgot his 
 nervousness, and said it was evident the skipper 
 meant to do the generous thing, and they 'd stand 
 by him. 
 
 " Where 's the money coming from .' " inquired 
 the mate, as the skipper went down to breakfast, 
 and discussed the matter with him. " They 
 wouldn't get nothing out of me ! " 
 
 The skylight was open ; the skipper with a 
 glance at it bent forward and whispered in his 
 ear. 
 
 " Wot ! " said the mate. He endeavoured to 
 suppress his laughter with hot coffee and bacon, 
 with the result that he had to rise from his seat 
 and stand patiently while the skipper dealt him 
 some hearty thumps on the back. 
 
 With the prospect of riches before them the 
 men cheerfully faced the extra work ; the cook 
 did the boy's, while Ned and Simpson did Bill's 
 between them. When night came they removed 
 the hatch again, and with a little curiosity waited 
 to hear how their victims were progressing. 
 
 "Where's my dinner.'"' growled Bill hungrily, 
 as he drew himself up on deck. 
 
 " Dinner ! " said Ned, in surprise ; " why, you 
 ain't got none." 
 
 H 
 
98 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Woi?" said Bill ferociously. 
 
 "You see the skipper only serves out for three 
 now," said the cook. 
 
 " Well, why didn't you save us some .' " demanded 
 the other. 
 
 "There ain't enough of it, Bill, there ain't in- 
 deed," said Ned. " We have to do more work 
 now, and there ain't enough even for us. You 've 
 got biscuit and water, haven't you .-' " 
 
 Bill swore at him. 
 
 " I 've 'ad enough o' this," he said fiercely. " I'm 
 coming up, let the old man do what he likes. I 
 don't care." 
 
 "Don't do that. Bill," said the old man per- 
 suasively. " Everything 's going beautiful. You 
 was quite right what you said about the old man. 
 We was wrong. He's skeered fearful, and he's 
 going to give us twenty pun to say nothing about 
 it when we get ashore." 
 
 " I 'm going to have ten out o' that," said Bill, 
 brightening a little, " and it 's worth it too. I get 
 the 'orrors shut up down there all day.'' 
 
 "Ay, ay," said Ned, with a side kick at the 
 cook, who was about to question Bill's method 
 of division. 
 
 "The old man sucked it all in beautiful," said 
 the cook. "He's in a dreadful way. He's got all 
 your clothes and things, and the boy's, and he's 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 99 
 
 going to 'and 'em over to your friends. It's the 
 best joke I ever heard." 
 
 " You 're a fool ! " said Bill shortly, and lighting 
 his pipe went and squatted in the bows to wrestle 
 grimly with a naturally bad temper. 
 
 For the ensuing four days things went on 
 smoothly enough. The weather being fair, the 
 watch at night was kept by the men, and regularly 
 they had to go through the unpleasant Jack-in-the- 
 box experience of taking the lid off Bill. The 
 sudden way he used to pop out and rate them 
 about his sufferings and their callousness was 
 extremely trying, and it was only by much per- 
 suasion and reminders of his share of the hush- 
 money that they could persuade him to return 
 again to his lair at daybreak. 
 
 Still undisturbed they rounded the Land's End. 
 The day had been close and muggy, but towards 
 night the wind freshened, and the schooner began 
 to slip at a good pace through the water. The 
 two prisoners, glad to escape from the stifling 
 atmosphere of the hold, sat in the bows with an 
 appetite which the air made only too keen for the 
 preparations made to satisfy it. 
 
 Ned was steering, and the other two men 
 having gone below and turned in, there were 
 no listeners to their low complaints about the 
 food. 
 
100 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " It 's a fool's game, Tommy," said Bill, shaking 
 his head. 
 
 " Game ? " said Tommy, sniffing. " 'Ow are we 
 going to get away when we get to Northsea .' " 
 
 " You leave that to me," said Bill. " Old Ned 
 seems to ha' got a bad cough," he added. 
 
 " He 's choking, I should think," said Tommy, 
 leaning forward. " Look ! he 's waving his hand 
 at us." 
 
 Both sprang up hastily, but ere they could make 
 any attempt to escape the skipper and mate 
 emerged from the companion and walked towards 
 them. 
 
 " Look here," said the skipper, turning to the 
 mate, and indicating the culprits with his hand ; 
 " perhaps you '11 disbelieve in dreams now." 
 
 " 'Strordinary ! " said the mate, rubbing his eyes, 
 as Bill stood sullenly waiting events, while the 
 miserable Tommy skulked behind him. 
 
 " I 've heard o' such things," continued the 
 skipper, in impressive tones, " but I never expected 
 to see it. You can't say you haven't seen a ghost 
 now, Bob." 
 
 " 'Strordinary ! " said the mate, shaking his head 
 again. " Lifelike ! " 
 
 " The ship 's haunted, Ned," cried the skipper in 
 hollow tones, " Here 's the sperrits o' Bill and the 
 boy standing agin the windlass." 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." lOt 
 
 The bewildered old seaman made no reply ; 
 the smaller spirit sniffed and wiped his nose 
 on his cuff, and the larger one began to whistle 
 softly. 
 
 " Poor things 1 " said the skipper, after they had 
 discussed these extraordinary apparitions for 
 some time. " Can you see the windlass through 
 the boy. Bob .? " 
 
 " I can see through both of 'em," said the mate 
 slyly. 
 
 They stayed on deck a little longer, and then 
 coming to the conclusion that their presence on 
 deck could do no good, and indeed seemed only 
 to embarrass their visitors, went below again, 
 leaving all hands a prey to the wildest astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 " Wot's 'is little game ? " asked Simpson, coming 
 cautiously up on deck. 
 
 " Damned if I know," said Bill savagely. 
 
 " He don't really think you 're ghosts .-' " sug- 
 gested the cook feebly. 
 
 " O' course not," said Bill scornfully. " He 's 
 got some little game on. Well, I 'm going to my 
 bunk. You'd better come too. Tommy. We'll 
 find out what it all means to-morrer, I 've no 
 doubt." 
 
 On the morrow they received a little enlighten- 
 ment, for after breakfast the cook came forward 
 
loi SEA URCHINS. 
 
 nervously to break the news that meat and vege- 
 tables had only been served out for three. Con- 
 sternation fell upon all. 
 
 " I '11 go an' see 'im," said Bill ravenously. 
 
 He found the skipper laughing heartily over 
 something with the mate. At the seaman's 
 approach he stepped back and eyed him 
 coolly. 
 
 "Mornin', sir," said Bill, shuffling up. "We'd 
 like to know, sir, me an' Tommy, whether we can 
 have our rations for dinner served out now same as 
 before ? " 
 
 " Dinner ? " said the skipper in surprise. " What 
 do you want dinner for ? " 
 
 " Eat," said Bill, eyeing him reproachfully. 
 
 " Eat ? " said the skipper. " What 's the good o' 
 giving dinner to a ghost '! Why you 've got no- 
 where to put it." 
 
 By dint of great self-control Bill smiled in a 
 ghastly fashion, and patted his stomach. 
 
 " All air," said the skipper turning away. 
 
 " Can we have our clothes and things then ? " 
 said Bill grinding his teeth. "Ned says as how 
 you 've got 'em." 
 
 " Certainly not," said the skipper. " I take 'em 
 home and give 'em to your next o' kin. That 's 
 the law, ain't it. Bob .? " 
 
 " It is," said the mate. 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." 103 
 
 "They'll 'ave your effects and your pay up to 
 the night you committed suicide," said the skipper. 
 
 " We didn't commit sooicide," said Bill ; " how 
 could we when we 're standing here ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, you did," said the other. " I 've got 
 your letters in my pocket to prove it ; besides, if 
 you didn't I should give you in charge for 
 desertion directly we get to port." 
 
 He exchanged glances with the mate, and Bill, 
 after standing first on one leg and then on the 
 other, walked slowly away. For the rest of the 
 morning he stayed below setting the smaller ghost 
 a bad example in the way of language, and 
 threatening his fellows with all sorts of fearful 
 punishments. 
 
 Until dinner-time the skipper heard no more 
 of them, but he had just finished that meal and 
 lit his pipe when he heard footsteps on the deck, 
 and the next moment old Ned, hot and angry, 
 burst into the cabin. 
 
 " Bill 's stole our dinner, sir," he panted un- 
 ceremoniously. 
 
 " Who .'' " inquired the skipper coldly. 
 
 " Bill, sir. Bill Smith," replied Ned. 
 
 " Who ? " inquired the skipper more coldly than 
 before. 
 
 "The ghost o' Bill Smith," growled Ned, cor- 
 recting himself savagely, "has took our dinner 
 
104 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 away, an' him an' the ghost o' Tommy Brown is 
 a sitting down and boltin' of it as fast as they can 
 bolt." 
 
 " Well, I don't see what I can do," said the 
 skipper lazily. "What'd you let 'em for.'" 
 
 " You know what Bill is, sir," said Ned. " I 'm 
 an old man, cook's no good, and unless Simpson 
 has a bit o' raw beef for his eyes, he won't be able 
 to see for a week." 
 
 " Rubbish ! " said the skipper jocularly. " Don't 
 tell me, three men all afraid o' one ghost. I shan't 
 interfere. Don't you know what to do ? " 
 
 " No, sir," said Ned eagerly. 
 
 " Go up and read the Prayer-book to him, and 
 he '11 vanish in a cloud of smoke,'' said the skipper. 
 
 Ned gazed at him for a moment speechlessly, 
 and then going up on deck leaned over the side 
 and swore himself faint. The cook and Simpson 
 came up and listened respectfully, contenting 
 themselves with an occasional suggestion when 
 the old man's memory momentarily failed him. 
 
 For the rest of the voyage the two culprits 
 suffered all the inconvenience peculiar to a loss of 
 citizenship. The skipper blandly ignored them, 
 and on two or three occasions gave great offence 
 by attempting to walk through Bill as he stood 
 on the deck. Speculation was rife in the forecastle 
 as to what would happen when they got ashore, 
 
"CHOICE SPIRITS." los 
 
 and it was not until Northsea was sighted that 
 the skipper showed his hand. Then he appeared 
 on deck with their effects done up neatly in two 
 bundles, and pitched them on the hatches. The 
 crew stood and eyed him expectantly. 
 
 " Ned," said the skipper sharply. 
 
 " Sir," said the old man. 
 
 "As soon as we're made fast," said the other, 
 " I want you to go ashore for me and fetch an 
 undertaker and a policeman. I can't quite make 
 up my mind which I want." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir," murmured the old man. 
 
 The skipper turned away, and seizing the helm 
 from the mate took his ship in. He was so intent 
 upon this business that he appeared not to notice 
 the movements of Bill and Tommy as they edged 
 nervously towards their bundles, and waited 
 impatiently for the schooner to get alongside 
 the quay. Then he turned to the mate and 
 burst into a loud laugh as the couple, bending 
 suddenly, snatched up their bundles, and, clamber- 
 ing up the side, sprang ashore and took to 
 their heels. The mate laughed too, and a faint 
 but mirthless echo came from the other end of 
 the schooner. 
 
A DISCIPLINARIAN 
 
 " 'T^HERE'S no doubt about it," said the night 
 -L watchman, "but what dissipHne's a very 
 good thing, but it don't always act well. For 
 instance, I ain't allowed to smoke on this wharf, 
 so when I want a pipe I either 'ave to go over 
 to the ' Queen's 'ed,' or sit in a lighter. If I 'm 
 in the 'Queen's 'ed' I can't look arter the wharf, 
 an' once when I was sitting in a lighter smoking 
 the chap come aboard an' cast off afore I knew 
 what he was doing, an' took me all the way to 
 Greenwich. He said he 'd often played that trick 
 on watchmen. 
 
 " The worst man for dissipline I ever shipped 
 with was Cap'n Tasker, of the Lapwing. He'd 
 got it on the brain bad. He was a prim, clean- 
 shaved man except for a little side-whisker, an' 
 always used to try an' look as much like a naval 
 officer as possible. 
 
 "I never 'ad no sort of idea what he was like 
 when I jined the ship, an' he was quite quiet and 
 peaceable until we was out in the open water. 
 1 06 
 
A DISCIPLINARIAN. 107 
 
 Then the cloven hoof showed itself, an' he kicked 
 one o' the men for coming on deck with a dirty 
 face, an' though the man told him he never did 
 wash becos his skin was so delikit, he sent the 
 bos'en to turn the hose on him. 
 
 "The bos'en seemed to take a hand in every- 
 thing. We used to do everything by his whistle, 
 it was never out of his mouth scarcely, and I've 
 known that man to dream of it o' nights, and sit 
 up in his sleep an' try an' blow his thumb. He 
 whistled us to swab decks, whistled us to grub, 
 whistled us to every blessed thing. 
 
 "Though we didn't belong to any reg'ler line, 
 we 'd got a lot o' passengers aboard, going to the 
 Cape, an' they thought a deal o' the skipper. There 
 was one young leftenant aboard who said he 
 reminded him o' Nelson, an' him an' the skipper 
 was as thick as two thieves. Nice larky young 
 chap he was, an' more than one o' the crew tried 
 to drop things on him from aloft when he wasn't 
 looking. 
 
 " Every morning at ten we was inspected by the 
 skipper, but that wasn't enough for the leftenant, 
 and he persuaded the old man to drill us. He said 
 it would do us good an' amuse the passengers, an' 
 we 'ad to do all sorts o' silly things with our arms 
 an' legs, an' twice he walked the skipper to the 
 other end of the ship, leaving twenty-three sailor- 
 
io8 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 men bending over touching their toes, an' wondering 
 whether they 'd ever stand straight again. 
 
 " The very worst thing o' the lot was the boat- 
 drill. A chap might be sitting comfortable at his 
 grub, or having a pipe in his bunk, when the bos'en's 
 whistle would scream out to him that the ship was 
 sinking, an' the passengers drownding, and he was 
 to come an' git the boats out an' save 'em. Nice 
 sort o' game it was too. We had to run like mad 
 with kegs o' water an' bags o' biscuit, an' then run 
 the boats out an' launch 'em. All the men were 
 told off to certain boats, an' the passengers too. 
 The only difference was, if a passenger didn't care 
 about taking a hand in the game he didn't, but we 
 had to. 
 
 " One o' the passengers who didn't play was 
 Major Miggens. He was very much agin it, an' 
 called it tomfoolery ; he never would go to his 
 boat, but used to sit and sneer all the time. 
 
 " ' It 's only teaching the men to cut an' run,' he, 
 said to the skipper one day ; '"if there ever was any 
 need they'd run to the boats an' leave us here. 
 Don't tell me.' 
 
 " ' That 's not the way I should ha' expected to 
 hear you speak of British sailors, major,' ses the 
 skipper rather huffy. 
 
 " ' British swearers', ses the major, sniffing. ' You 
 don't hear their remarks when that whistle is 
 
A DISCIPLINARIAN 109 
 
 blown. It's enough to bring a judgment on the 
 ship.' 
 
 " ' If you can point 'em out to me I '11 punish 
 'em,' says the skipper very warm. 
 
 " ' I 'm not going to point 'em out,' ses the 
 major. ' I symperthise with 'em too much. They 
 don't get any of their beauty sleep, pore chaps, 
 an' they want it, every one of 'em.' 
 
 " I thought that was a very kind remark o' the 
 major to make, but o' course some of the wimmin 
 larfed. I s'pose they think men don't want beauty 
 sleep, as it's called. 
 
 " I heard the leftenant symperthising with the 
 skipper arter that. He said the major was simply 
 jealous because the men drilled so beautifully, an' 
 then they walked aft, the leftenant talking very 
 earnest an' the skipper shaking his head at some- 
 thing he was saying. 
 
 " It was just two nights arter this. I 'd gone 
 below an' turned in when I began to dream that 
 the major had borrowed the bos'en's whistle an' 
 was practising on it. I remember thinking in my 
 sleep what a comfort it was it was only the major, 
 when one of the chaps give me a dig in the back 
 an' woke me. 
 
 " ' Tumble up,' ses he, ' the ship 's afire.' 
 
 " I rushed up on deck, an' there was no mistake 
 about who was blowing the whistle The bell was 
 
no SEA URCHINS. 
 
 jangling horrible, smoke was rolling up from the 
 hatches, an' some o' the men was dragging out the 
 hose an' tripping up the passengers with it as they 
 came running up on deck. The noise and con- 
 fusion was fearful. 
 
 "'Out with the boats,' ses Tom Hall to me, 
 ' don't you hear the whistle ? ' 
 
 " ' What, ain't we going to try an' put the fire 
 out.?' I ses. 
 
 " ' Obey orders,' ses Tom, ' that 's what we 've got 
 to do, an' the sooner we 're away the better. You 
 know what 's in her.' 
 
 "We ran to the boats then, an', I must say, 
 we got 'em out well, and the very fust person to 
 git into mine was the major in his piejammers ; 
 arter all the others was in we 'ad 'im out agin. 
 He didn't belong to our boat, an' dissipline is 
 dissipline any day. 
 
 "Afore we could git clear o' the ship, how- 
 ever, he came yelling to the side an' said 
 kis boat had gone, an' though we prodded him 
 with our oars he lowered himself over the side 
 and dropped in. 
 
 " Fortunately for us it was a lovely clear night ; 
 there was no moon, but the stars were very bright. 
 The engines had stopped, an' the old ship sat on 
 the water scarcely moving. Another boat was 
 bumping up against ours, and two more came 
 
A DISCIPLINARIAN. iii 
 
 creeping round the bows from the port side an' 
 jined us. 
 
 " 'Who's in command } ' calls out the major. 
 
 " ' I am,' ses the first mate very sharp-like from 
 one of the boats. 
 
 " ' Where 's the cap'n then > ' called out an old 
 lady from my boat o' the name o' Prendergast. 
 
 " ' He 's standing by the ship,' ses the mate. 
 
 '"Doing whatf ses Mrs. Prendergast, looking 
 at the water as though she expected to see the 
 skipper standing there. 
 
 " ' He's going down with the ship,' ses one o' the 
 chaps. 
 
 " Then Mrs. Prendergast asked somebody to be 
 kind enough to lend her a handkerchief, becos she 
 had left her pocket behind aboard ship, and began 
 to sob very bitter. 
 
 "'Just a simple British sailor,' ses she, snivelling, 
 'going down with his ship. There he is. Look! 
 On the bridge.' 
 
 "We all looked, an' then some o' the other 
 wimmin wanted to borrer handkerchiefs. I lent 
 one of 'em a little cotton waste, but she was 
 so unpleasant about its being a trifle oily that 
 she forgot all about crying, and said she'd tell 
 the mate about me as soon as ever we got 
 ashore. 
 
 " ' I '11 remember him in my prayers,' ses one o' 
 
112 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 the wimmin who was crying comfortable in a big 
 red bandana belonging to one o' the men. 
 
 "'All England shall ring with his deed,' ses 
 another. 
 
 " ' Sympathy 's cheap,' ses one of the men 
 passengers solemnly. ' If we ever reach land we 
 must all band together to keep his widow an' 
 orphans.' 
 
 " ' Hear, hear,' cries everybody. 
 
 " 'And we '11 put up a granite tombstone to his 
 memory,' ses Mrs. Prendergast. 
 
 '"S'pose we pull back to the ship an' take him 
 off,' ses a gentleman from another boat. ' I 'm 
 thinking it 'ud come cheaper, an' perhaps the puir 
 mon would really like it better himself.' 
 
 " ' Shame,' ses most of 'em ; an' I reely b'leeve 
 they'd worked theirselves up to that pitch they'd 
 ha' felt disapponted if the skipper had been 
 saved. 
 
 "We pulled along slowly, the mate's boat 
 leading, looking back every now and then at the 
 old ship, and wondering when she would go off, 
 for she 'd got that sort o' stuff in her hold which 
 'ud send her up with a bang as soon as the fire 
 got to it ; an' we was all waiting for the shock. 
 
 " ' Do you know where we 're going, Mr. Bunce ? ' 
 calls out the major. 
 
 " ' Yes,' ses the mate. 
 
A DISCIPLINARIAN. 113 
 
 '"What's the nearest land ?' asks the major. 
 
 " ' 'Bout a thousand miles,' ses the mate. 
 
 " Then the major went into figgers, an' worked 
 out that it 'ud take us about ten days to reach 
 land and three to reach the bottom o' the water 
 kegs. He shouted that out to the mate ; an' the 
 young leftenant what was in the mate's boat 
 smoking a big cigar said there 'd be quite a run 
 on granite tombstones. He said it was a blessed 
 thing he had disinherited his children for marrying 
 agin his wishes, so there wouldn't be any orphans 
 left to mourn for him. 
 
 " Some o' the wimmin smiled a little at this, an' 
 old Mrs. Prendergast shook so that she made the 
 boat rock. We got quite cheerful somehow, and 
 one of the other men spoke up and said that 
 owing to his only having reckoned two pints to 
 the gallon, the major's figgers wasn't to be relied 
 upon. 
 
 " We got more cheerful then, and we was 
 beginning to look on it as just a picnic, when 
 I 'm blest if the mate's boat didn't put about and 
 head for the ship agin. 
 
 "There was a commotion then if you like, every- 
 body talking and laughing at once ; and Mrs, 
 Prendergast said that such a thing as one single- 
 handed cap'n staying behind to go down with his 
 ship, and then putting the fire out all by himself 
 
 I 
 
114 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 after his men had fled, had never been heard 
 of before, an' she believed it never would be again. 
 She said he must be terribly burnt, and he 'd 
 have to be put to bed and wrapped up in oily 
 rags. 
 
 " It didn't take us long to get aboard agin, and 
 the ladies fairly mobbed the skipper. Tom Hall 
 swore as 'ow Mrs. Prendergast tried to kiss him, an' 
 the fuss they made of him was ridiculous. I heard 
 the clang of the telegraph in the engine-room soon 
 as the boats was hoisted up, the engines started, 
 and off we went again. 
 
 " ' Speech,' yells out somebody. ' Speech.' 
 " ' Bravo ! ' ses the others. ' Bravo ! ' 
 " Then the skipper stood up an' made 'em a nice 
 little speech. First of all he thanked 'em for their 
 partiality and kindness shown to him, and the 
 orderly way in which they had left the ship. He 
 said it reflected credit on all concerned, crew and 
 passengers, an' no doubt they 'd be surprised when 
 he told them that there hadn't been any fire at all, 
 but that it was just a test to make sure that the 
 boat drill was properly understood. 
 
 " He was quite right about them being surprised. 
 Noisy, too, they was, an' the things they said about 
 the man they'd just been wanting to give granite 
 tombstones to was simply astonishing. It would 
 have taken a whole cemetery o' tombstones to put 
 
A DISCIPLINARIAN. 115 
 
 down all they said about him, and then they 'd ha' 
 had to cut the letters small. 
 
 " ' I vote we have an indignation meeting in the 
 saloon to record our disgust at the cap'n's be- 
 haviour,' ses the major fiercely. ' I beg to propose 
 that Mr. Macpherson take the chair.' 
 
 " ' I second that,' ses another, fierce-like. 
 
 '" I beg to propose the major instead,' ses some- 
 body else in a heasy off-hand sort o' way; 'Mr, 
 Macpherson's boat not having come back yet' 
 
 " At first everybody thought he was joking, but 
 when they found he was really speaking the truth 
 the excitement was awful. Fortunately, as Mrs. 
 Prendergast remarked, there was no ladies in the 
 boat, but there was several men passengers. We 
 were doing a good thirteen knots an hour, but we 
 brought up at once, an' then we 'ad the most lovely 
 firework display I ever see aboard ship in my life. 
 Blue lights and rockets and guns going all night, 
 while we cruised slowly about, and the passengers 
 sat on deck arguing as to whether the skipper 
 would be hung or only imprisoned for life. 
 
 " It was daybreak afore we sighted them, just a 
 little speck near the sky-line, an' we bore down on 
 them for all we was worth. Half an hour later 
 they was alongside, an' of all the chilly, miserable- 
 looking men I ever see they was the worst. 
 
 " They had to be helped up the side a'most, and 
 
ii6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 they was so grateful it was quite affecting, until 
 the true state o' things was explained to them. It 
 seemed to change 'em wonderful, an' after Mr. 
 Macpherson had had three cups o' hot coffee an' 
 four glasses o' brandy he took the chair at the 
 indignation meeting, an' went straight off to sleep 
 in it. They woke him up three times, but he was 
 so cross about it that the ladies had to go away 
 an' the meeting was adjourned. 
 
 " I don't think it ever came to much after all, 
 nobody being really hurt, an' the skipper being so 
 much upset they felt sort o' sorry for 'im. 
 
 "The rest of the passage was very quiet an' 
 comfortable, but o' course it all came out at the 
 other end, an' the mate brought the ship home. 
 Some o' the chaps said the skipper was a bit wrong 
 in the 'ed, and, while I'm not gainsaying that, it's 
 my firm opinion that he was persuaded to do what 
 he did by that young leftenant. As I said afore, 
 he was a larky young chap, an' very fond of a joke 
 if he didn't have to pay for it." 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS 
 
 " T 'VE got a friend coming down with us this 
 
 J- trip, George," said the master of the Wave, 
 as they sat on deck after tea watching the 
 river. " One of our new members. Brother 
 Hutchins." 
 
 " From the Mission, I s'pose ? " said the mate 
 coldly. 
 
 " From the Mission," confirmed the skipper. 
 " You '11 like him, George ; he 's been one o' the 
 greatest rascals that ever breathed." 
 
 " Well, I don't know what you mean," said the 
 mate, looking up indignantly. 
 
 " He 's 'ad a most interestin' life,'' said the 
 skipper; "he's been in half the jails of England. 
 To hear 'im talk is as good as reading a book. 
 And 'e 's as merry as they make 'em." 
 
 " Oh, and is 'e goin' to give us prayers afore 
 breakfast like that fat-necked, white-faced old 
 rascal what came down with us last summer and 
 stole my boots?" demanded the mate. 
 117 
 
ii8 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " He never stole 'em, George," said the skipper. 
 " If you 'd 'card that man cry when I mentioned 
 to 'im your unjust suspicions, you'd never have 
 forgiven yourself, He told 'em at the meetin', an' 
 they had prayers for you." 
 
 " You an' your Mission are a pack o' fools," 
 said the mate scornfully. " You 're always being 
 done. A man comes to you an' ses 'e 's found 
 grace, and you find 'im a nice, easy, comfortable 
 living. 'E sports a bit of blue ribbon and a red 
 nose at the same time. Don't tell me. You 
 ask me why I don't join you, and I tell you 
 it 's because I don't want to lose my common 
 sense." 
 
 " You '11 know better one o' these days, George,'' 
 said the skipper, rising. "I earnestly hope you'll 
 'ave some great sorrow or affliction, something 
 almost too great for you to bear. It's the only 
 thing that '11 save you." 
 
 " I expect that fat chap what stole my boots 
 would like to see it too," said the mate. 
 
 " He would," said the skipper solemnly. " He 
 said so.'' 
 
 The mate got up, fuming and knocking his pipe 
 out with great violence against the side of the 
 schooner, stamped up and down the deck two 
 or three times, and then, despairing of regaining 
 his accustomed calm on board, went ashore. 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS. 119 
 
 It was late when he returned. A light burnt 
 in the cabin, and the skipper with his spectacles 
 on was reading aloud from an old number of the 
 Evangelical Magazine to a thin, white-faced man 
 dressed in black. 
 
 " That 's my mate," said the skipper, looking up 
 from his book. 
 
 " Is he one of our band .' " inquired the stranger. 
 
 The skipper shook his head despondently. 
 
 " Not yet," said the stranger encouragingly. 
 
 " Seen too many of 'em," said the mate bluntly. 
 " The more I see of 'em, the less I like 'em. It 
 makes me feel wicked to look at 'em." 
 
 " Ah, that ain't you speaking now, it 's the Evil 
 One," said Mr. Hutchins confidently. 
 
 " I s'pose you know 'im pretty well," said the 
 mate simply. 
 
 " I lived with him thirty years," said Mr. 
 Hutchins solemnly, " then I got tired of him." 
 
 " I should think he got a bit sick too," said the 
 mate. "Thirty days 'ud ha' been too long for 
 me." 
 
 He went to his berth, to give Mr. Hutchins 
 time to frame a suitable reply, and returned 
 with a full bottle of whisky and a tumbler, and 
 having drawn the cork with a refreshing pop, 
 mixed himself a stiff glass and lit his pipe. 
 Mr. Hutchins with a deep groan gazed re- 
 
I20 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 proachfully at the skipper and shook his head 
 at the bottle. 
 
 "You know I don't like you to bring that 
 filthy stuff in the cabin, George," said the 
 skipper. 
 
 " It 's not for me," said the mate flippantly. 
 " It 's for the Evil One. He ses the sight of his 
 old pal 'Utchins 'as turned his stomach." 
 
 He glanced at the stranger and saw to his 
 astonishment that he appeared to be struggling 
 with a strong desire to laugh. His lips tightened 
 and his shifty little eyes watered, but he conquered 
 himself in a moment, and rising to his feet de- 
 livered a striking address in favour of teetotalism. 
 He condemned whisky as not only wicked, but 
 unnecessary, declaring with a side glance at the 
 mate that two acidulated drops dissolved in water 
 were an excellent substitute. 
 
 The sight of the whisky appeared to madden 
 him, and the skipper sat spell-bound at his 
 eloquence, until at length, after apostrophizing 
 the bottle in a sentence which left him breath- 
 less, he snatched it up and dashed it to pieces 
 on the floor. 
 
 For a moment the mate was struck dumb with 
 fury, then with a roar he leaped up and rushed for 
 the lecturer, but the table was between them, and 
 before he could get over it the skipper sprang up 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS. 121 
 
 and seizing him by the arm, pushed his friend into 
 the state-room. 
 
 "Lea' go," foamed the mate. "Let me get at 
 him." 
 
 "George," said the skipper, still striving with 
 him, " I 'm ashamed of you." 
 
 " Ashamed be damned," yelled the mate, strug- 
 gling. "What did he chuck my whisky away 
 for > " 
 
 " He 's a saint," said the skipper, relaxing his 
 hold as he heard Mr, Hutchins lock himself in. 
 " He 's a saint, George. Seein' 'is beautiful words 
 'ad no effect on you, he 'ad recourse to strong 
 measures." 
 
 "Wait till I get hold of 'im," said the mate 
 menacingly. " Only wait, I '11 saint 'im." 
 
 " Is he better, dear friend .■' " came the voice of 
 Mr. Hutchins from beyond the door; " because 
 I forgot the tumbler." 
 
 " Come out," roared the mate, " come out and 
 upset it." 
 
 Mr. Hutchins declined the invitation, but from 
 behind the door pleaded tearfully with the mate 
 to lead a better life, and even rebuked the skipper 
 for allowing the bottle of sin to be produced in 
 the cabin. The skipper took the rebuke humbly, 
 and after requesting Mr. Hutchins to sleep in the 
 state-room that night in order to frustrate the 
 
122 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 evident designs of the mate, went on deck for a 
 final look round and then came below and turned 
 in himself. 
 
 The crew of the schooner were early astir next 
 morning getting under way, but Mr. Hutchins 
 kept his bed, although the mate slipped down to 
 the cabin several times and tapped at his door. 
 When he did come up the mate was at the 
 wheel and the men down below getting break- 
 fast. 
 
 " Sleep well .' " inquired Mr. Hutchins softly, as 
 he took a seat on the hatches, a little distance 
 from him. 
 
 " I '11 let you know when I haven't got this 
 wheel," said the mate sourly. 
 
 " Do," said Mr. Hutchins genially. " We shall 
 see you at our meeting to-night .'' " he asked 
 blandly. 
 
 The mate disdained to reply, but his wrath 
 when at Mr. Hutchins' request the cabin was 
 invaded by the crew that evening, cannot be put 
 into words. 
 
 For three nights they had what Mr. Hutchins 
 described as love-feasts, and the mate as blamed 
 bear-gardens. The crew were not particularly 
 partial to hymns, considered as such, but hymns 
 shouted out with the full force of their lungs 
 while sharing the skipper's hymn-book appealed 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS. 123 
 
 to them strongly. Besides, it maddened the 
 mate, and to know that they were defying their 
 superior, and at the same time doing good to 
 their own souls, was very sweet. The boy, 
 whose voice was just breaking, got off some 
 surprising effects, and seemed to compass about 
 five octaves without distress. 
 
 When they were exhausted with singing Mr. 
 Hutchins would give them a short address, 
 generally choosing as his subject a strong, violent- 
 tempered man given to drink and coarse language. 
 The speaker, proved conclusively that a man who 
 drank would do other things in secret, and he 
 pictured this man going home and beating his 
 wife because she reproached him for breaking 
 open the children's money-box to spend the 
 savings on Irish whisky. At every point he 
 made he groaned, and the crew, as soon as they 
 found they might groan too, did so with extra- 
 ordinary gusto, the boy's groans being weird 
 beyond conception. 
 
 They reached Plymouth, where they had to 
 put out a few cases of goods, just in time to 
 save the mate's reason, for the whole ship, 
 owing to Mr. Hutchins' zeal, was topsy turvy. 
 The ship's cat sat up all one night cursing him 
 and a blue ribbon he had tied round her neck, 
 and even the battered old tea-pot came down 
 
124 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 to meals bedizened with bows of the same 
 proselytizing hue. 
 
 By the time they had got to their moorings 
 it was too late to take the hatches off, and the 
 crew sat gazing longingly at the lights ashore. 
 Their delight when the visitor obtained per- 
 mission for them to go ashore with him for a 
 little stroll was unbounded, and they set off 
 like schoolboys. 
 
 " They couldn't be with a better man," said the 
 skipper, as the party moved off; " when I think 
 of the good that man 's done in under four days 
 it makes me ashamed of myself." 
 
 " You 'd better ship 'im as mate," said George. 
 " There 'd be a pair of you then.'' 
 
 " There 's greater work for 'im to do," said the 
 skipper solemnly. 
 
 He saw the mate's face in the waning light, and 
 moved off with a sigh. The mate, for his part, 
 leaned against the side smoking, and as the 
 skipper declined to talk on any subject but Mr. 
 Hutchins, relapsed into a moody silence until the 
 return of the crew some two hours later. 
 
 " Mr. Hutchins is coming on after, sir," said the 
 boy. "He told us to say he was paying a visit 
 to a friend." 
 
 " What 's the name of the pub ? " asked the 
 mate quietly. 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS. 125 
 
 " If you can't speak without showing your nasty 
 temper, George, you'd better hold your tongue," 
 said the skipper severely. " What 's your opinion 
 about Mr. Hutchins, my lads ? " 
 
 "A more open 'arted man never breathed," said 
 Dan, the oldest of the crew, warmly. 
 
 " Best feller I ever met in my life," said another. 
 
 " You hear that ? " said the skipper. 
 
 " I hear," said the mate. 
 
 " 'E 's a Christian," said the boy. " I never 
 knew what a Christian was before I met 'im. 
 What do you think 'e give us ? " 
 
 " Give you ? " said the skipper. 
 
 "A pound cash," said the boy. "A golden 
 sovring each. Tork about Christians ! I wish 
 I knew a few more of 'em." 
 
 "Well I never!" exclaimed the gratified 
 skipper. 
 
 "An' the way 'e did it was so nice," said the 
 oldest seaman. " 'E ses, ' That 's from me an' the 
 skipper,' 'e ses. 'Thank the skipper for it as 
 much as me,' 'e ses." 
 
 "Well now, don't waste it," said the skipper. 
 " I should bank it if I was you. It '11 make a 
 nice little nest-egg." 
 
 " I 'ope it was come by honest, that 's all," said 
 the mate. 
 
 " O' course it was," cried the skipper. " You 've 
 
126 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 got a 'ard, cruel 'art, George. P'raps if it 'ad been 
 a little softer you 'd 'ave 'ad one too." 
 
 " Blast 'is sovrings," said the surly mate. " I 'd 
 like to know where he got 'em from, an' wot 
 'e means by saying it come from you as much 
 as 'im. I never knew you to give money 
 away." 
 
 " I s'pose," said the skipper very softly, " he 
 means that I put such -like thoughts into 'is 'art. 
 Well, you'd better turn in, my lads. We start 
 work at four." 
 
 The hands went forward, and the skipper and 
 mate descended to the cabin and prepared for 
 sleep. The skipper set a lamp on the table ready 
 for Mr. Hutchins when he should return, and after 
 a short inward struggle bade the mate " good- 
 night," and in a couple of minutes was fast 
 asleep. 
 
 At four o'clock the mate woke suddenly to find 
 the skipper standing by his berth. The lamp 
 still stood burning on the table, fighting feebly 
 against the daylight which was pouring in through 
 the skylight. 
 
 " Not turned up yet .■• " said the mate, with a 
 glance at the visitor's empty berth. 
 
 The skipper shook his head spiritlessly and 
 pointed to the table. The mate following his 
 finger, saw a small canvas bag, and by the side 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS. 127 
 
 of it fourpence halfpenny in coppers and an 
 unknown amount in brace buttons. 
 
 " There was twenty- three pounds freight money 
 in that bag when we left London," said the skipper, 
 finding his voice at last. 
 
 " Well, what do you think 's become of it .' " 
 inquired the mate, taking up the lamp and blowing 
 it out. 
 
 " I can't think," said the skipper, " my 'ed 's all 
 confused. Bro — Mr. Hutchins ain't come back 
 yet." 
 
 " I s'pose he was late and didn't like to disturb 
 you," said the mate without moving a muscle, 
 " but I 've no doubt 'e 's all right. Don't you 
 worry about him." 
 
 "It's very strange where it's gone, George," 
 faltered the skipper, "very strange." 
 
 " Well, 'Utchins is a generous sort o' chap," said 
 the mate, " 'e give the men five pounds for nothing, 
 so perhaps he'll give you something. — when 'e 
 comes back." 
 
 " Go an' ask the crew to come down here," said 
 the skipper, sinking on a locker and gazing at the 
 brazen collection before him. 
 
 The mate obeyed, and a few minutes afterwards 
 returned with the men, who, swarming into the 
 cabin, listened sympathetically as the skipper 
 related his loss. 
 
128 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " It 's a mystery which nobody can understand, 
 sir," said old Dan when he had finished, " and it 's 
 no use tryin'." 
 
 " One o' them things what won't never be cleared 
 up properly," said the cook comfortably. 
 
 " Well, I don't like to say it," said the skipper, 
 " but I must. The only man who could have taken 
 it was Hutchins." 
 
 " Wot, sir," said Dan, " that blessed man ! Why, 
 I 'd laugh at the idea." 
 
 " He couldn't do it," said the boy, " not if he 
 tried he couldn't. He was too good." 
 
 " He 's taken that twenty-three poun'," said the 
 skipper deliberately ; " eighteen, we 'II call it, 
 because I 'm goin' to have five of it back." 
 
 "You're labourin' under a great mistake, sir," 
 said Dan ambiguously. 
 
 "Are you going to give me that money.''" said 
 the skipper loudly. 
 
 "Beggin' your pardon, sir, no," said the cook, 
 speaking for the rest, as he put his foot on the 
 companion-ladder. " Brother 'Utchins gave us 
 that money for singing them 'ims so well. 'E said 
 so, and we ain't 'ad no call to think as it warn't 
 honestly come by. Nothing could ever make us 
 think that, would it, mates .■' " 
 
 " Nothing," said the others with exemplary 
 firmness. " It couldn't be done." 
 
BROTHER HUTCHINS. 129 
 
 They followed the cook up on deck, and leaning 
 over the side, gazed in a yearning fashion toward 
 the place where they had last seen their bene- 
 factor. Then with a sorrowful presentiment that 
 they would never look upon his like again, they 
 turned away and prepared for the labours of the 
 day. 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET 
 
 THE old man was dead, and his son Edward 
 reigned in his stead. The old man had 
 risen from a humble position in life ; his rule 
 was easy, and his manner of conducting business 
 eminently approved of by the rough old seamen 
 who sailed his small craft round the coast, and 
 by that sharp clerk Simmons, on whose discovery 
 the old man was wont, at times, to hug himself 
 in secret. The proceedings, when one of his 
 skippers came home from a voyage, were severely 
 simple. The skipper would produce a bag, and, 
 emptying it upon the table, give an account of 
 his voyage ; whenever he came to an expenditure, 
 raking the sum out of the heap, until, at length, 
 the cash was divided into two portions, one of 
 which went to the owner, the other to the 
 skipper. 
 
 But other men other manners. The books of 
 the inimitable Simmons being overhauled, re- 
 vealed the startling fact that they were kept by 
 single entry ; in addition to which, a series of 
 130 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 131 
 
 dots and dashes appeared against the figures 
 forming a code, the only key to which was locked 
 up somewhere in Simmons's interior. 
 
 "It's a wonder the firm hasn't gone bankrupt 
 long ago," said the new governor, after the clerk 
 had explained the meaning of various signs and 
 wonders. "What does this starfish against the 
 entry mean ? " 
 
 " It isn't a starfish, sir," said Simmons ; " it 
 means that one bag of sugar got wetted a little ; 
 then, if the consignees notice it, we shall know we 
 have got to allow for it." 
 
 "A pretty way of doing business, upon my 
 word. It'll all have to be altered," said the 
 other. " I must have new offices too ; this 
 dingy little hole is enough to frighten people 
 away." 
 
 The conversation was interrupted by the en- 
 trance of Captain Fazackerly, of the schooner 
 Sarah Ann, who, having just brought up in the 
 river, had hastened to the office to report. 
 
 " Mornin', sir," said the captain respectfully ; 
 " I 'm glad to see you here, sir, but the office 
 don't seem real like without your father sitting 
 in it. He was a good master, and we 're all sorry 
 to lose him." 
 
 " You 're very good," said the new master some- 
 what awkwardly. 
 
132 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I expect it '11 take some time for you to 
 get into the way of it," said the captain, with a 
 view to giving the conversation a more cheerful 
 turn. 
 
 " I expect it will," said the new master, thinking 
 of the starfish. 
 
 " It 's a mercy Simmons wasn't took too," said 
 the captain, shaking his head. "As it is, he's 
 spared ; he '11 be able to teach you. There ain't " 
 — he lowered his voice, not wishing to make 
 Simmons unduly proud — "there ain't a smarter 
 clerk in all Liverpool than wot he is." 
 
 " I 'm glad to hear it," said the new master, 
 regarding the old man with raised eyebrows, as 
 he extricated a plethoric-looking canvas bag from 
 his jacket pocket and dropped it with a musical 
 crash on the chipped office table. His eyebrows 
 went still higher, as the old man unfastened the 
 string, and emptying the contents on to the table, 
 knitted his brows into reflective wrinkles, and 
 began to debit the firm with all the liabilities of 
 a slow but tenacious memory. 
 
 " Oh, come," said the owner sharply, as the old 
 man lovingly hooked out the sum of five-and- 
 sixpence as a first instalment, "this won't do, 
 cap'n." 
 
 " Wot won't do, Mas'r Edward ? " inquired the 
 old man in surprise. 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 133 
 
 "Why this way of doing business," said the 
 other. " It's not businesshke at all, you know." 
 
 "Well, it's the way me an' your pore old 
 father has done it this last thirty year," said the 
 skipper, " an' I 'm sure I 've never knowingly 
 cheated him out of a ha'penny ; and a better 
 man o' business than your father never breathed." 
 
 " Yes ; well, I 'm going to do things a bit 
 differently," said the new master. " You must 
 give me a proper disbursement sheet, cap'n, if 
 you please." 
 
 " And what may that be .' " inquired Captain 
 Fazackerly, as with great slowness he gathered 
 up the money and replaced it in the bag ; " I 
 never heard of it afore." 
 
 "Well, I haven't got time to teach you book- 
 keeping," said the other, somewhat nettled at 
 the old man's manner. " Can't you get some of 
 your brother captains to show you .' Some deep- 
 sea man would be sure to know." 
 
 " I '11 see what I can do, sir," said the skipper 
 slowly, as he turned towards the door. " My word 
 was always good enough for your father.'' 
 
 In a moody, indignant frame of mind he stuck 
 his hands furiously in his trousers' pockets, and 
 passed heavily through the swing-doors. At 
 other times he had been wont to take a genial, 
 if heavy interest in passing events; but, in this 
 
134 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 instance, he plodded on, dwelling darkly upon his 
 grievance, until he reached, by the mere force of 
 habit, a certain favourite tavern. He pulled up 
 sharply, and, as a mere matter of duty and custom, 
 and not because he wanted it, went in and ordered 
 a glass of gin. 
 
 He drank three, and was so hazy in his replies 
 to the young lady behind the bar, usually a prime 
 favourite, that she took offence, and availing her- 
 self, for private reasons, of a public weapon, coldly 
 declined to serve him with a fourth. 
 
 "Wot.'"' said the astounded Fazackerly, coming 
 out of his haze. 
 
 "You've had enough!" said the girl firmly. 
 " You get aboard again, and mind how you do so." 
 
 The skipper gazed at her for a moment in 
 open-mouthed horror, and then jamming his hat 
 firmly over his brows, stumbled out of the door 
 and into the street, where he ran full into the arms 
 of another mariner who was just entering. 
 
 "Why, Zacky, my boy," cried the latter, clap- 
 ping him lustily on the back, " how goes it .-' " 
 
 In broken, indignant accents the other told him. 
 
 " You come in with me," said the new-comer. 
 
 " I '11 never enter that pub again," said the 
 skipper. 
 
 "You come in with me," said the master-mind 
 firmly. 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 135 
 
 Captain Fazackerly hesitated a moment, and 
 then, feeling that he was safe in the hands of 
 the master of a foreign-going barque, followed 
 him into the bar, and from behind his back glared 
 defiantly at his fair foe. 
 
 "Two glasses o' gin, my dear," said Captain 
 Tweedie with the slightest possible emphasis. 
 
 The girl, who knew her customer, served him 
 without a murmur, deftly avoiding the gaze of 
 ungenerous triumph with which the injured 
 captain favoured her as he raised the cooling 
 beverage to his lips. The glass emptied, he 
 placed it on the counter and sighed despondently. 
 
 " There 's something up with you, Zacky," said 
 Tweedie, eyeing him closely as he bit the end 
 off a cigar ; " you 've got something on your 
 mind." 
 
 " I 've been crool hurt," said his friend in a hard, 
 cold voice. " My word ain't good enough for the 
 new guv'nor ; he wants what he calls a disburse- 
 ment sheet." 
 
 " Well, give him one," said Tweedie. " You 
 know what it is, don't you ? " 
 
 Captain Fazackerly shook his head, and pushing 
 the glasses along the counter nodded for them to 
 be refilled. 
 
 " You come aboard with me,'' said Tweedie after 
 they had emptied them. 
 
136 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 Captain Fazackerly, who had a doglike faith in 
 his friend, followed him into the street and on to 
 his barque. In a general way he experienced a 
 social rise when he entered the commodious 
 cabin of that noble craft, and his face grew in 
 importance as his host, after motioning him to a 
 seat, placed a select array of writing materials 
 before him. 
 
 " I s'pose I 've got to do it," he said slowly. 
 
 " Of course you have,'' said Tweedie, rolling his 
 cigar between his thin lips ; " you 've got orders 
 to do so, haven't you .■' We must all obey those 
 above us. What would you do if one of your men 
 refused to obey an order of yours .' " 
 
 " Hit him in the face," said Captain Fazackerly 
 with simple directness. 
 
 "Just so," said Tweedie, who was always ready 
 to impart moral teaching. "And when your 
 governor asks for a disbursement sheet you've got 
 to give him one. Now, then, head that paper — 
 Voyage of the Sarah Ann, i8o tons register, 
 Garston Docks to Limerick." 
 
 The captain squared his elbows, and, for a few 
 seconds, nothing was heard but his stertorous 
 breathing and the scratching of the pen ; then a 
 muttered execration, and Captain Fazackerly put 
 down his pen with a woe-begone air. 
 
 "What's the matter.'' " said Tweedie. 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 137 
 
 "I've spelt register without the 'd,'" said the 
 other ; " that 's what comes o' being worried." 
 
 " It don't matter," said Tweedie hastily. " Now 
 what about stores .■' Wait a bit, though ; of 
 course ye repaired your side-lamps before start- 
 ing.?" 
 
 " Lor', no ! " said Captain Fazackerly, staring ; 
 " what for .■' They were all right." 
 
 "Ye lie,'' said Tweedie sternly, "you did! To 
 repairs to side-lamps, ten shillings. Now then, 
 did you paint her this trip ? " 
 
 " I did," said the other, looking at the last entry 
 in a fascinated fashion. 
 
 " Let 's see," said Tweedie meditatively — '' we '11 
 say five gallons of black varnish at one shilling 
 and threepence a gallon " 
 
 " No, no," said the scribe ; " I used gas tar 
 at threepence a gallon." 
 
 "Five gallons black varnish, one shilling and 
 threepence a gallon, six - and - threepence," said 
 Tweedie, raising his voice a little ; " have you 
 got that down?" 
 
 After a prolonged struggle with his feelings 
 the other said he had. 
 
 "Twenty-eight pounds black paint at twopence 
 a pound," continued Tweedie. 
 
 "Nay, nay," said the skipper; "I alius saves 
 the soot out of the galley for that." 
 
138 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The other captain took his cigar from his 
 lips and gazed severely at his guest. 
 
 "Am I dealing with a chimney-sweep or a 
 ship's captain.-"' he inquired plaintively; "it 
 would simplify matters a bit if I knew." 
 
 " Go on, Captain Tweedie," said the other, 
 turning a fine purple colour; "how much did you 
 say it was .'' " 
 
 " Twenty-eight twos equals fifty-six ; that 's four- 
 and-ninepence," continued Tweedie, his face re- 
 laxing to receive the cigar again ; " and twenty- 
 eight pounds white lead at twenty-eight shillings 
 a hundredweight " 
 
 "Three penn'orth o' whiting's good enough for 
 me, matey," said Captain Fazackerly, making a 
 stand. 
 
 "See here," said Tweedie, "who's making out 
 this disbursement sheet, you or me .■" " 
 
 " You are,'' said the other. 
 
 "Very good then," said his friend; "now don't 
 you interrupt. I don't mind telling you, )'ou must 
 never use rubbish o' that sort in a disbursement 
 sheet. It looks bad for the firm. If any other 
 owners saw that in your old man's sheet he'd 
 never hear the end of it, and he'd never forgive 
 you. That '11 be — what did I say ? Seven shillings. 
 And now we come to the voyage. Ye had a tug 
 to give ye a pluck out to the bar .■" " 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 139 
 
 " No ; we went out with a fair wind," said 
 Captain Fazackerly, toying with his pen. 
 
 " Ye lie ; ye had a tug out to the bar," repeated 
 Tweedie wearily, " Did ye share the towing } " 
 
 "Why, no, I tell'e " 
 
 "That'll be three pounds then," said Tweedie. 
 " If ye 'd shared it it would have been two pound 
 ten. You should always study your owner in 
 these matters, cap'n. Now, what about bad 
 weather ? Any repairs to the sails } " 
 
 " Ay, we had a lot o' damage," said Fazackerly, 
 laying down his pen; "it took us days to repair 
 'em. Cost us four pounds. We had to put into 
 Holyhead for shelter." 
 
 " Four pounds 1 " said Tweedie, his voice rising 
 almost to a scream. 
 
 " Ay, all that," said Fazackerly very solemnly. 
 
 " Look here," said Tweedie in a choked voice. 
 " Blown away fore lower topsail, fore-staysail, and 
 carried away lifts to staysail. To sailmaker for 
 above, eleven pounds eighteen shillings and ten- 
 pence. Then ye say ye put into Holyhead for 
 shelter. Well, here in entering harbour we'll say 
 loss of port anchor and thirty fathoms of chain 
 cable " 
 
 " Man alive," said the overwrought skipper, 
 hitting the table heavily with his fist, "the old 
 anchor 's there for him to see." 
 
140 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "To divers for recovering same, and placing on 
 deck, two pound ten," continued Tweedie, raising 
 his voice. " Did you do any damage going into 
 dock at Limerick ? " 
 
 " More than we 've done for years," said Fa- 
 zackerly, and shaking his head, entered into 
 voluminous details ; " total, seven pounds." 
 
 " Seven pounds ! " said the exasperated Tweedie. 
 " Seven pounds for all that, and your insurance 
 don't begin till twenty-five pounds. Why, damme, 
 you ain't fit to be trusted out with a ship. I 
 firmly b'lieve if you lost her you 'd send in a bill 
 for a suit of clothes, and call it square. Now take 
 this down, and larn a business way o' doing things. 
 In entering dock, carried away starboard cathead 
 and started starboard chain plates ; held survey 
 of damage done : decided to take off channel 
 bends, renew through bolts, straighten plates and 
 replace same ; also to renew cathead and caulk 
 ship's side in wake of plate, six seams, &c. &c. 
 There, now, that looks better. Twenty-seven 
 pounds eighteen and sevenpence halfpenny, and 
 I think, for all that damage, it 's a very reasonable 
 bill. Can you remember anything else .■" " 
 
 " You 've got a better memory than I have," 
 said his admiring friend. "Wait a bit, though; 
 yes, I had my poor old dog washed over- 
 board." 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 141 
 
 " Dog ! " said the deep-sea man ; '' we can't put 
 dogs in a disbursement sheet. 'Tain't business." 
 
 " My old master would have given me another 
 one, though," grumbled Fazackerly. " I wouldn't 
 ha' parted with that dog for anything. He 
 knew as much as you or me, that dog did. I 
 never knew him to bite an officer, but I don't 
 think there was ever a man came on the ship 
 but what he'd have a bit out of, sooner or 
 later." 
 
 " Them sort of dogs do get washed overboard," 
 said Tweedie impatiently. 
 
 " Boys he couldn't abear," pursued the other, in 
 tones of tender reminiscence ; " the mere sight of 
 a boarding-school of 'em out for a walk would 
 give him hydrophoby almost." 
 
 "Just so," said Tweedie. "Ah! there's cork 
 fenders ; ye may pick them up floating down 
 the river, or they may come aboard in the night 
 from a craft alongside ; they 're changeable sort o' 
 things, but in the disbursement sheet they must 
 go, and best quality too, four-and-sixpence each. 
 Anything else .' " 
 
 " There 's the dog," said Fazackerly persistently. 
 
 "Copper nails, tenpence," said Tweedie the 
 dictator. 
 
 '' Haven't bought any for months," said the 
 other, but slowly entering it. 
 
142 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Well, it ain't exactly right," said Tweedie, 
 shrugging his shoulders, " but you 're so set on 
 him going in." 
 
 " Him ? Who .' " asked Captain Fazackerly, 
 staring. 
 
 " The dog," said Tweedie ; " if he goes in as 
 copper nails, he won't be noticed." 
 
 " If he goes in as tenpence, I 'm a Dutchman," 
 said the bereaved owner, scoring out the copper 
 nails. " You never knew that dog properly, 
 Tweedie.'' 
 
 " Well, never mind about the dog," said Tweedie ; 
 "let's cast the sheet. What do you think it 
 comes to .? " 
 
 " 'Bout thirty pun'," hazarded the other. 
 
 " Thirty fiddlesticks," retorted Tweedie ; " there 
 you are in black and white — sixty-three pounds 
 eighteen shillings and tenpence ha'penny." 
 
 " And is that what Mas'r Edward wants } " 
 inquired Captain Fazackerly, gasping. 
 
 " Yes ; that 's a properly drawn up disburse- 
 ment sheet," said Tweedie in satisfied tones. 
 "You see how it simplifies matters. The gover- 
 nor can see at a glance how things stand, while, 
 if you trusted to your memory, you might forget 
 something, or else claim something you didn't 
 have." 
 
 " I ought to have had them things afore," said 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 143 
 
 Captain Fazackerly, shaking his head solemnly. 
 " I 'd ha' been riding in my carriage by now." 
 
 " Never ye dream of having another v'y'ge with- 
 out one," said Tweedie. " I doubt whether it 's 
 lawful to render an account without one." 
 
 He folded the paper, and handed it to his 
 friend, who, after inspecting it with considerable 
 pride, tucked it carefully away in his breast 
 pocket. 
 
 "Take it up in the morning," said Tweedie. 
 "We'll have a bit o' tea down here, and then 
 we '11 go round a bit afterwards." 
 
 Captain Fazackerly having no objection, they 
 had tea first, and then, accompanied by the first 
 mate, went out to christen the disbursement sheet. 
 The ceremony, which was of great length, was 
 solemnly impressive towards the finish. Captain 
 Tweedie, who possessed a very sensitive, highly- 
 strung nature, finding it necessary to put a licensed 
 victualler out of his own house before it could be 
 completed to his satisfaction. 
 
 The one thing which Captain Fazackerly re- 
 membered clearly the next morning when he 
 awoke was the disbursement sheet. He propped 
 it against the coffee-pot during breakfast, and 
 read selections to his admiring mate, and after a 
 refreshing toilet, proceeded to the office. Simmons 
 was already there, and before the skipper could 
 
144 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 get to the purpose of his visit, the head of the 
 firm arrived. 
 
 " I 've just brought the disbursement sheet you 
 asked for, sir,'' said the skipper, drawing it from 
 his pocket. 
 
 " Ah ! you 've got it, then," said the new 
 governor, with a gracious smile; "you see it 
 wasn't so much trouble after all." 
 
 "I don't mind the trouble, sir," interrupted 
 Captain Fazackerly. 
 
 "You see it puts things on a better footing," 
 said the other. " I can see at a glance now how 
 things stand, and Simmons can enter the items 
 straight away into the books of the firm. It's 
 more satisfactory to both of us. Sit down, 
 cap'n." 
 
 The captain sat down, his face glowing with 
 this satisfactory recognition of his work. 
 
 " I met Cap'n Hargreaves as I was a-coming 
 up," he said ; " and I explained to him your ideas 
 on the subject, an' he went straight back, as 
 straight as he could go, to make out his disburse- 
 ment sheet." 
 
 " Ah ! we shall soon have things on a better 
 footing now,'' said the governor, unfolding the 
 paper, while the skipper gazed abstractedly through 
 the small, dirty panes of the office window at the 
 bustle on the quay below. 
 
THE DISBURSEMENT SHEET. 145 
 
 For a short space there was silence in the office, 
 broken only by the half-audible interjections of 
 the reader. Then he spoke. 
 
 " Simmons ! " he said sharply. 
 
 The old clerk slipped from his stool, and obey- 
 ing the motions of his employer inspected, in 
 great astonishment, the first disbursement sheet 
 which had ever entered the office. He read 
 through every item in an astonished whisper, and, 
 having finished, followed the governor's example 
 and gazed at the heavy figure by the window. 
 
 " Captain Fazackerly," said his employer, at 
 length, breaking a painful silence. 
 
 " Sir," said the captain, turning his head a little. 
 
 " I 've been talking with Simmons about these 
 disbursement sheets," said the owner, somewhat 
 awkwardly ; " Simmons is afraid they '11 give him 
 a lot of extra trouble." 
 
 The captain turned his head a little more, and 
 gazed stolidly at the astonished Simmons. 
 
 "A man oughtn't to mind a little extra trouble 
 if the firm wishes it," he said somewhat severely. 
 
 " He 's afraid it would throw his books out a 
 bit," continued the owner, deftly avoiding the gaze 
 of the injured clerk. "You see, Simmons' book- 
 keeping is of the old-fashioned kind, cap'n, star- 
 fishes and all that kind of thing," he continued, 
 incoherently, as the gaze of Simmons, refusing 
 
 L 
 
146 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 to be longer avoided, broke the thread of his 
 discourse. "So I think we'll put the paper on 
 the fire, cap'n, and do business in the old way. 
 Have you got the money with you .' " 
 
 " I have, sir," said Fazackerly, feeling in his 
 pocket, as he mournfully watched his last night's 
 work blazing up the chimney. 
 
 " Fire away, then," said the owner, almost 
 cordially. 
 
 Captain Fazackerly advanced to the table, and 
 clearing his throat, fixed his eyes in a reflective 
 stare on the opposite wall and commenced : — 
 
 " Blown away fore lower topsail, fore-staysail, 
 and carried away lifts to staysail. To sailmaker 
 for above, eleven pounds eighteen shillings and 
 tenpence," he said, with relish. " Tug out to the 
 bar, three pounds. To twenty-eight pounds black 
 soot, I mean paint " 
 
RULE OF THREE 
 
 THE long summer day had gone and twilight 
 was just merging into night. A ray of light 
 from the lantern at the end of the quay went 
 trembling across the sea, and in the little harbour 
 the dusky shapes of a few small craft lay motion- 
 less on the dark water. 
 
 The master of the schooner Harebell came slowly 
 towards the harbour, accompanied by his mate. 
 Both men had provided ashore for a voyage which 
 included no intoxicants, and the dignity of the 
 skipper, always a salient feature, had developed 
 tremendously under the influence of brown stout. 
 He stepped aboard his schooner importantly, and 
 then, turning to the mate, who was about to follow, 
 suddenly held up his hand for silence. 
 
 " What did I tell you .■■ " he inquired severely as 
 the mate got quietly aboard. 
 
 " About knocking down the two policemen .' " 
 guessed the mate, somewhat puzzled. 
 
 " No," said the other shortly. " Listen." 
 
 The mate listened. From the foc'sle came the 
 
 147 
 
148 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 low gruff voices of men, broken by the silvery 
 ripple of women's laughter. 
 
 " Well, I 'm a Dutchman," said the mate with 
 the air of one who felt he was expected to say 
 something. 
 
 "After all I said to em," said the skipper 
 with weary dignity. "You 'card what I said 
 to 'em. Jack ? " 
 
 "Nobody could ha' swore louder," testified the 
 mate. 
 
 " An' here they are," said the skipper in amaze, 
 "defying of me. After all I said to 'em. After 
 all the threats I — I employed." 
 
 "Employed,"' repeated the mate with relish. 
 
 " They 've been and gone and asked them 
 females down the foc'sle again. You know 
 what I said I 'd do. Jack, if they did." 
 
 "Said you'd eat 'em without salt," quoted the 
 other helpfully. 
 
 " I '11 do worse than that. Jack," said the 
 skipper after a moment's discomfiture. " What 's 
 to hinder us casting off quietly and taking them 
 along with us ? " 
 
 " If you ask me," said the mate, " I should say 
 you couldn't please the crew better." 
 
 " Well, we '11 see," said the other, nodding sagely; 
 "don't make no noise, Jack." 
 
 He set an example of silence himself, and aided 
 
RULE OF THREE. 149 
 
 by the mate, cast off the warps which held his 
 unconscious visitors to their native town, and the 
 wind being off the shore the little schooner drifted 
 silently away from the quay. 
 
 The skipper went to the wheel, and the noise of 
 the mate hauling on the jib brought a rough head 
 out of the foc'sle, the owner of which, after a cry 
 to his mates below, sprang up on deck and looked 
 round in bewilderment. 
 
 " Stand by, there ! " cried the skipper as the 
 others came rushing on deck. " Shake 'em out." 
 
 "Beggin' your pardin', sir," said one of them 
 with more politeness in his tones than he had 
 ever used before, " but " 
 
 " Stand by ! " said the skipper. 
 
 " Now then ! " shouted the mate sharply, " lively 
 there ! Lively with it ! " 
 
 The men looked at each other helplessly and 
 went to their posts as a scream of dismay arose 
 from the fair beings below who, having just begun 
 to realize their position, were coming on deck to 
 try and improve it. 
 
 " What ! " roared the skipper in pretended 
 astonishment, " what ! Gells aboard after all I 
 said .'' It can't be ; I must be dreaming ! " 
 
 " Take us back ! " wailed the damsels, ignoring 
 the sarcasm ; " take us back, captain." 
 
 "IS'o, I can't go back," said the skipper. "You 
 
ISO SEA URCHINS. 
 
 see what comes o' disobedience, my gells. Lively 
 there on that mains'l, d' ye hear ? " 
 
 " We won't do it again," cried the girls, as the 
 schooner came to the mouth of the harbour and 
 they smelt the dark sea beyond. "Take us 
 back." 
 
 " It can't be done," said the skipper cheer- 
 fully. 
 
 " It 's agin the lor, sir," said Ephraim Biddle 
 solemnly. 
 
 " What ! Taking my own ship out ? " said the 
 skipper in affected surprise. " How was I to 
 know they were there ? I 'm not going back ; 
 'tain't likely. As they've made their beds so 
 they must lay on 'em." 
 
 " They ain't got no beds," said George Scott 
 hastily. " It ain't fair to punish the gals for 
 us, sir." 
 
 "Hold your tongue," said the skipper sharply. 
 
 "It's agin the lor, sir,'' said Biddle again. "If 
 so be they 're passengers, this ship ain't licensed 
 to carry passengers. If so be as they're took 
 out agin their will, it's abduction — I see the 
 other day a chap had seven years for abducting 
 one gal, three sevens — three sevens is — three 
 sevens is — well, it's more years than you'd like 
 to be in prison, sir." 
 
 "Bosh," said the skippjr, "they're stowaways, 
 
RULE OF THREE. 151 
 
 an' I shall put 'em ashore at the first port we 
 touch at — Plymouth." 
 
 A heartrending series of screams from the 
 stowaways rounded his sentence, screams which 
 gave way to sustained sobbing, as the schooner, 
 catching the wind, began to move through the 
 water. 
 
 " You 'd better get below, my gals," said Biddle, 
 who was the eldest member of the crew, con- 
 solingly. 
 
 " Why don't you make him take us back ? " 
 said Jenny Evans, the biggest of the three girls, 
 indignantly. 
 
 " 'Cos we can't, my dear," said Biddle reluctantly; 
 "it's agin the lor. You don't want to see us put 
 into prison, do you .-" " 
 
 " I don't mind," said Miss Evans tearfully, " so 
 long as we get back. George, take us back." 
 
 " I can't," said Scott sullenly. 
 
 "Well, you can look for somebody else, then," 
 said Miss Evans with temper. "You won't marry 
 me. How much would you get if you did make 
 the skipper put back .'' " 
 
 " Very likely six months," said Biddle solemnly. 
 
 " Six months would soon pass away,'' said Miss 
 Evans briskly, as she wiped her eye. 
 
 " It would be a rest," said Miss Williams 
 coaxingly. 
 
152 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The men not seeing things in quite the same 
 light, they announced their intention of having 
 nothing more to do with them, and crowding 
 together in the bows beneath two or three 
 blankets, condoled tearfully with each other on 
 their misfortunes. For some time the men stood 
 by offering clumsy consolations, but, tired at last 
 of repeated rebuffs and insults, went below and 
 turned in, leaving the satisfied skipper at the 
 wheel. 
 
 The night was clear and the wind light. As 
 the effects of his libations wore off the skipper 
 had some misgivings as to the wisdom of his 
 action, but it was too late to return, and he 
 resolved to carry on. 
 
 Looking at all the circumstances of the case, 
 he thought it best to keep the wheel in his 
 own hands for a time, and the dawn came 
 in the early hours and found him still at his 
 post. 
 
 Objects began to stand out clearly in the grow- 
 ing light, and three dispirited girls put their heads 
 out from their blankets and sniffed disdainfully at 
 the sharp morning air. Then after an animated 
 discussion they arose, and casting their blankets 
 aside, walked up to the skippe;r and eyed hijn 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "As easy as easy," said Jenny Evans confidently, 
 
RULE OF THREE. 153 
 
 as she drew herself up to her full height, and 
 looked down at the indignant man. 
 
 "Why, he isn't any bigger than a boy," said 
 Miss Williams savagely. 
 
 " Pity we didn't think of it before," said Miss 
 Davies. " I s'pose the crew won't help him ? " 
 
 "Not they," said Miss Evans scornfully. "If 
 they do, we '11 serve them the same." 
 
 They went off, leaving the skipper a prey to 
 gathering uneasiness, watching their movements 
 with wrinkled brow. From the forecastle and the 
 galley they produced two mops and a broom, and 
 he caught his breath sharply as Miss Evans came 
 on deck with a pot of white paint in one hand and 
 a pot of tar in the other. 
 
 " Now, girls," said Miss Evans. 
 
 " Put those things down," said the skipper in 
 a peremptory voice. 
 
 "Sha'n't," said Miss Evans bluntly. "You 
 haven't got enough on yours," she said, turning 
 to Miss Davies. " Don't spoil the skipper for 
 a ha'porth of tar." 
 
 At this new version of an old saw they laughed 
 joyously, and with mops dripping tar and paint on 
 the deck, marched in military style up to the 
 skipper, and halted in front of him, smiling 
 wickedly. 
 
 Then the heart of the skipper waxed sore faint 
 
IS4 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 within him, and, with a wild yell, he summoned 
 his trusty crew to his side. 
 
 The crew came on deck slowly, and casting 
 furtive glances at the scene, pushed Ephraim 
 Biddle to the front. 
 
 "Take those mops away from 'em," said the 
 skipper haughtily. 
 
 " Don't you interfere," said Miss Evans, looking 
 at them over her shoulder. 
 
 " Else we '11 give you some,'' said Miss Williams 
 bloodthirstily. 
 
 " Take those mops away from 'em ! " bawled the 
 skipper, instinctively drawing back as Miss Evans 
 made a pass at him. 
 
 " I don't see as 'ow we can interfere, sir," said 
 Biddle with deep respect. 
 
 " What!" said the astonished skipper. 
 
 " It would be agin the lor for us to interfere with 
 people,'' said Biddle, turning to his mates, "dead 
 agin the lor.'' 
 
 " Don't you talk rubbish," said the skipper 
 anxiously. "Take 'em away from 'em. It's my 
 tar and my paint, and " 
 
 "You shall have it," said Miss Evans reassuringly. 
 
 "If we touched 'em," said Biddle impressively, 
 "it'd be an assault at lor. 'Sides which, they'd 
 probably muss us up with 'em. All we can do, 
 sir, is to stand by and see fair play." 
 
RULE OF THREE. 155 
 
 "Fair play!" cried the skipper dancing with 
 rage, and turning hastily to the mate, who had 
 just come on the scene. " Take those things away 
 from 'em. Jack." 
 
 "Well, if it's all the same to you," said the 
 mate, " I 'd rather not be drawn into it." 
 
 "But I 'd rather you were," said the skipper 
 sharply. " Take 'em away.'' 
 
 " How .'' " inquired the mate pertinently. 
 
 " I order you to take 'em away," said the skipper. 
 " How, is your affair." 
 
 " I 'm not goin' to raise my hand against a 
 woman for anybody," said the mate with decision. 
 "It's no part o' my work to get messed up with 
 tar and paint from lady passengers." 
 
 "It's part of your work to obey me, though," 
 said the skipper, raising his voice ; " all of you. 
 There 's five of you, with the mate, and only three 
 gells. What are you afraid of .'' " 
 
 "Are you going to take us back.?" demanded 
 Jenny Evans. 
 
 "Run away," said the skipper with dignity. 
 " Run away." 
 
 " I shall ask you three times," said Miss Evans 
 sternly. " One — are you going back .' Two — 
 are you going back .'' Three— — " 
 
 In the midst of a breathless silence she drew 
 within striking distance, while her allies, taking 
 
iS6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 up a position on either flank of the enemy, 
 listened attentively to the instructions of their 
 leader. 
 
 " Be careful he doesn't catch hold of the mops," 
 said Miss Evans ; " but if he does, the others are to 
 hit him over the head with the handles. Never 
 mind about hurting him." 
 
 "Take this wheel a minnit, Jack," said the 
 skipper, pale but determined. 
 
 The mate came forward and took it unwillingly, 
 and the skipper, trying hard to conceal his trepida- 
 tion, walked towards Miss Evans and tried to quell 
 her with his eye. The power of the human eye is 
 ^notorious, and Miss Evans showed her sense of the 
 danger she ran by making an energetic attempt to 
 close the skipper's with her mop, causing him to 
 duck with amazing nimbleness. At the same 
 moment another mop loaded with white paint was 
 pushed into the back of his neck. He turned 
 with a cry of rage, and then realizing the odds 
 against him flung his dignity to the winds and 
 dodged with the agility of a schoolboy. Through 
 the galley and round the masts he went with the 
 avenging mops in mad pursuit, until breathless 
 and exhausted he suddenly sprang on to the side 
 and climbed frantically into the rigging. 
 
 "Coward !" said Miss Evans, shaking her weapon 
 at him. 
 
RULE OF THREE. 157 
 
 " Come down," cried Miss Williams. " Come 
 down like a man." 
 
 " It 's no good wasting time over himl' said Miss 
 Evans, after another vain appeal to the skipper's 
 manhood. " He 's escaped. Get some more stuff 
 on your mops." 
 
 The mate, who had been laughing boisterously, 
 checked himself suddenly, and assumed a gravity 
 of demeanour more in accordance with his 
 position. The mops were dipped in solemn 
 silence, and Miss Evans approaching regarded 
 him significantly. 
 
 "Now, my dears," said the mate, waving his 
 hand with a deprecatory gesture, "don't be silly." 
 
 " Don't be what ? " inquired the sensitive Miss 
 Evans, raising her mop. 
 
 "You know what I mean," said the mate 
 hastily. " I can't help myself." 
 
 " Well, we 're going to help you," said Miss 
 Evans. " Turn the ship round." 
 
 "You obey orders. Jack," cried the skipper 
 from aloft. 
 
 " It 's all very well for you sitting up there 
 in peace and comfort," said the mate indignantly. 
 " I 'm not going to be tarred to please you. 
 Come down and take charge of your ship." 
 
 " Do your duty. Jack," said the skipper, who 
 was polishing his face with a handkerchief. 
 
158 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " They won't touch you. They daren't. They 're 
 afraid to." 
 
 " You 're egging 'em on," cried the mate wrath- 
 fully. " I won't steer ; come and take it yourself." 
 
 He darted behind the wheel as Miss Evans, 
 who was getting impatient, made a thrust at 
 him, and then, springing out, gained the side 
 and rushed up the rigging after his captain. 
 Biddle, who was standing close by, gazed 
 earnestly at them and took the wheel. 
 
 "You won't hurt old Biddle, I know,'' he 
 said, trying to speak confidently. 
 
 " Of course not,'' said Miss Evans emphatically. 
 
 "Tar don't hurt," explained Miss Williams. 
 
 " It 's good for you," said the third lady 
 positively. " One — two " 
 
 "It's no good," said the mate as Ephraim came 
 suddenly into the rigging ; " you 'II have to give 
 in." 
 
 "I'm damned if I will," said the infuriated skipper. 
 Then an idea occurred to him, and puckering his 
 face shrewdly he began to descend. 
 
 "All right," he said shortly, as Miss Evans 
 advanced to receive him. " I '11 go back." 
 
 He took the wheel ; the schooner came round 
 before the wind, and the willing crew, letting 
 the sheets go, hauled them in again on the 
 port side. 
 
RULE OF THREE. 159 
 
 "And now, my lads," said the skipper with 
 a benevolent smile, "just clear that mess up off 
 the decks, and you may as well pitch them 
 mops overboard. They'll never be any good 
 again." 
 
 He spoke carelessly, albeit his voice trembled 
 a little, but his heart sank within him as Miss 
 Evans, with a horrible contortion of her pretty 
 face, intended for a wink, waved them back.' 
 
 "You stay where you are," she said imperiously; 
 " we 'II throw them overboard — when we 've done 
 with them. What did you say, captain .'' " 
 
 The skipper was about to repeat it with great 
 readiness when Miss Evans raised her trusty 
 mop. The words died away on his lips, and 
 after a hopeless glance from his mate to the 
 crew and from the crew to the rigging, he 
 accepted his defeat, and in grim silence took 
 them home again. 
 
PICKLED HERRING 
 
 THERE was a sudden uproar on deck, and 
 angry shouts, accompanied by an incessant 
 barking ; the master of the brig Arethusa stopped 
 with his knife midway to his mouth, and ex- 
 changing glances with the mate, put it down and 
 rose to his feet. 
 
 " They 're chevying that poor animal again,'' he 
 said hotly. " It 's scandalous." 
 
 " Rupert can take care of himself," said the mate 
 calmly, continuing his meal. " I expect, if the 
 truth's known, it's him 's been doin' the chevying." 
 
 " You 're as bad as the rest of 'em," said the 
 skipper angrily, as a large brown retriever came 
 bounding into the cabin. " Poor old Rupe ! what 
 have they been doin' to you 1 " 
 
 The dog, with a satisfied air, sat down panting 
 by his chair, listening quietly to the subdued hub- 
 bub which sounded from the companion. 
 
 " Well, what is it 1 " roared the skipper, patting 
 his favourite's head. 
 
 "It's that blasted dawg, sir," cried an angry 
 1 60 
 
PICKLED HERRING. i6i 
 
 voice from above. " Go down and show 'im your 
 leg, Joe." 
 
 "An' 'ave another lump took out of it, I s'pose," 
 said another voice sourly. " Not me." 
 
 " I don't want to look at no legs while I 'm at 
 dinner," cried the skipper. " O' course the dog '11 
 bite you if you've been teasing him." 
 
 "There's nobody been teasing 'im," said the 
 angry voice again. " That 's the second one 'e 's 
 bit, and now Joe 's goin' to have 'im killed — ain't 
 you, Joe ? " 
 
 Joe's reply was not audible, although the in- 
 furiated skipper was straining his ears to catch it. 
 
 " Who 's going to have the dog killed ? " he 
 demanded, going up on deck, while Rupertj who 
 evidently thought he had an interest in the pro- 
 ceedings, followed unobtrusively behind. 
 
 " I am, sir, said Joe Bates, who was sitting on 
 the hatch while the cook bathed an ugly wound in 
 his leg. "A dog 's only allowed one bite, and he 's 
 'ad two this week." 
 
 " He bit me on Monday," said the seaman who 
 had spoken before. " Now he 's done for hisself." 
 
 " Hold your tongue ! " said the skipper angrily. 
 " You think you know a lot about the law, Sam 
 Clark; let me tell you a dog's entitled to have 
 as many bites as ever he likes, so as he don't bite 
 the same person twice." 
 
 M 
 
i62 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " That ain't the way I 've 'card it put afore," said 
 Clark, somewhat taken back. 
 
 " He 's the cutest dog breathing," said the 
 skipper fondly, " and he knows all about it. He 
 won't bite either of you again." 
 
 "And wot about them as 'asn't been bit yet, 
 sir .'' " inquired the cook. 
 
 " Don't halloo before you 're hurt," advised the 
 skipper. " If you don't tease him he won't bite 
 you." 
 
 He went down to his dinner, followed by the 
 sagacious Rupert, leaving the hands to go forward 
 again, and to mutinously discuss a situation which 
 was fast becoming unbearable. 
 
 " It can't go on no longer, Joe," said Clark 
 firmly; "this settles it." 
 
 " Where is the stuff ? " inquired the cook in a 
 whisper. 
 
 " In my chest," said Clark softly. " I bought 
 it the night he bit me." 
 
 " It 's a risky thing to do," said Bates. 
 
 " 'Ow risky .■' " asked Sam scornfully. " The dog 
 eats the stuff and dies. Who 's going to say what 
 he died of .' As for suspicions, let the old man 
 suspect as much as he likes. It ain't proof" 
 
 The stronger mind had its way, as usual, and 
 the next day the skipper, coming quietly on deck, 
 was just in time to see Joe Bates throw down 
 
PICKLED HERRING. 163 
 
 a fine fat bloater in front of the now amiable 
 Rupert. He covered the distance between him- 
 self and the dog in three bounds, and seizing it by 
 the neck, tore the fish from its eager jaws and 
 held it aloft. 
 
 " I just caught 'im in the act ! " he cried, as 
 the mate came on deck. "What did you give 
 that to my dog for ? " he inquired of the con- 
 science-stricken Bates. 
 
 " I wanted to make friends with him," stam- 
 mered the other. 
 
 " It 's poisoned, you rascal, and you know it," 
 said the skipper vehemently. 
 
 " Wish I may die, sir," began Joe. 
 
 " That '11 do," said the skipper harshly. " You 've 
 tried to poison my dog." 
 
 " I ain't," said Joe firmly. 
 
 "You ain't been trying to kill 'im with a 
 poisoned bloater .' " demanded the skipper. 
 
 " Certainly not, sir," said Joe. " I wouldn't do 
 such a thing. I couldn't if I tried." 
 
 " Very good then," said the skipper ; " if it 's all 
 right you eat it, and I '11 beg your pardon." 
 
 " I ain't goin' to eat after a dog," said Joe, 
 shuffling. 
 
 "The dog's as clean as you are," said the 
 skipper. " I 'd sooner eat after him than you." 
 
 " Well, you eat it then, sir," said Bates des- 
 
i64 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 perately. " If it 's poisoned you '11 die, and I '11 be 
 'ung for it. I can't say no fairer than that, can 
 I?" 
 
 There was a slight murmur from the men, who 
 stood by watching the skipper with an air of un- 
 holy Lxpectancy. 
 
 " Well, the boy shall eat it then," said the 
 skipper. " Eat that bloater, boy, and I '11 give 
 you sixpence." 
 
 The boy came forward slowly, and looking from 
 the men to the skipper, and from the skipper back 
 to the men, began to whimper. 
 
 "If you think it's poisoned," interrupted the 
 mate, "you oughtn't to make the boy eat it. I 
 don't like boys, but you must draw the line some- 
 where." 
 
 "It's poisoned," said the skipper, shaking it at 
 Bates, " and they know it. Well, I '11 keep it till 
 we get to port, and then I '11 have it analysed. 
 And it'll be a sorry day for you. Bates, when I 
 hear it 's poisoned. A month's hard labour is what 
 you '11 get." 
 
 He turned away and went below with as much 
 dignity as could be expected of a man carrying 
 a mangled herring, and placing it on a clean plate, 
 solemnly locked it up in his state-room. 
 
 For two days the crew heard no more about 
 it, though the skipper's eyes gleamed dangerously 
 
PICKLED HERRING. 165 
 
 each time that they fell upon the shrinking Bates. 
 The weather was almost tropical, with not an air 
 stirring, and the Arethusa, bearing its dread secret 
 still locked in its state-room, rose and fell upon 
 a sea of glassy smoothness without making any 
 progress worth recording. 
 
 " I wish you 'd keep that thing in your berth, 
 George," said the skipper, as they sat at tea the 
 second evening; "it puts me in a passion every 
 time I look at it." 
 
 " I couldn't think of it, cap'n," replied the mate 
 firmly ; " it makes me angry enough as it is. 
 Every time I think of 'em trying to poison that 
 poor dumb creature I sort o' choke. I try to 
 forget it." 
 
 The skipper, eyeing him furtively, helped him- 
 self to another cup of tea. 
 
 "You haven't got a tin box with a lid to it, I 
 s'pose .' " he remarked somewhat shamefacedly. 
 
 The mate shook his head. " I looked for one 
 this morning," he said. " There ain't so much as a 
 bottle aboard we could shove it into, and it wants 
 shoving into something — bad, it does.'' 
 
 " I don't like to be beat," said the skipper, 
 shaking his head. "All them grinning monkeys 
 for'ard 'ud think it a rare good joke. I 'd throw 
 it overboard if it wasn't for that. We can't keep 
 it this weather." 
 
i66 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Well, look 'ere; 'ere's a way out of it,'' said 
 the mate. " Call Joe down, and make him keep 
 it in the foc'sle and take care of it. That '11 
 punish 'em all too." 
 
 " Why, you idiot, he 'd lose it ! " rapped out 
 the other impatiently. 
 
 "O' course he would," said the mate; "but 
 that's the most digernified way out of it for 
 you. You can call 'im all sorts o' things, and 
 abuse 'im for the rest of his life. They'll prove 
 themselves guilty by chucking it away, won't 
 they .? " 
 
 It really seemed the only thing to be done. 
 The skipper finished his tea in silence, and then 
 going on deck called the crew aft and apprised 
 them of his intentions, threatening them with 
 all sorts of pains and penalties if the treasure 
 about to be confided to their keeping should be 
 lost. The cook was sent below for it, and, at the 
 skipper's bidding, handed it to the grinning Joe. 
 
 "And mind," said the skipper as he turned 
 away, " I leave it in your keepin', and if it 's 
 missing I shall understand that you've made 
 away with it, and I shall take it as a sign of 
 guilt, and act according." 
 
 The end came sooner even than he expected. 
 They were at breakfast next morning when Joe, 
 looking somewhat pale, came down to the cabin. 
 
PICKLED HERRING. 167 
 
 followed by Clark, bearing before him an empty 
 plate. 
 
 " Well .' " said the skipper fiercely. 
 
 "It's about the 'erring, sir," said Joe, twisting 
 his cap between his hands. 
 
 " Well ? " roared the skipper again. 
 
 "It's gone, sir," said Joe, in bereaved accents. 
 
 " You mean you 've thrown it away, you infernal 
 rascal ! " bellowed the skipper. 
 
 "No, sir," said Joe. 
 
 " Ah 1 I s'pose it walked up on deck and 
 jumped overboard," said the mate. 
 
 " No, sir," said Joe softly. " The dog ate it, 
 sir." 
 
 The skipper swung round in his seat and 
 regarded him open-mouthed. 
 
 " The — dog — ate — it ? " he repeated. 
 
 "Yes, sir; Clark saw 'im do it — didn't you, 
 Clark .? " 
 
 " I did," said Clark promptly. He had made 
 his position doubly sure by throwing it overboard 
 himself 
 
 " It comes to the same thing, sir," said Joe 
 sanctimoniously; "my innercence is proved just 
 the same. You'll find the dog won't take no 
 'urt through it, sir. You watch 'im." 
 
 The skipper breathed hard, but made no reply. 
 
 " If you don't believe me, sir, p'raps you 'd 
 
i68 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 like to see the plate where 'e licked it ? " said 
 Joe. "Give me the plate, Sam." 
 
 He turned to take it, but in place of handing 
 it to him that useful witness dropped it and 
 made hurriedly for the companion-ladder, and 
 by strenuous efforts reached the deck before 
 Joe, although that veracious gentleman, assisted 
 from below by strong and willing arms, made 
 a good second. 
 
TWO OF A TRADE 
 
 " ' TI^ 'S a nero, that 's wot 'e is, sir," said the cook, 
 
 -L--« as he emptied a boiler of dirty water over- 
 board. 
 
 " A what ? " said the skipper. 
 
 "A nero," said the cook, speaking very slowly 
 and distinctly. "A nero in real life, a chap wot, 
 speaking for all for'ard, we 're proud to have aboard 
 along with us." 
 
 " I didn't know he was much of a swimmer," said 
 the skipper, glancing curiously at a clumsily-built 
 man of middle age, who sat on the hatch glancing 
 despondently at the side. 
 
 " No more 'e ain't," said the cook, " an' that 's 
 what makes 'im more 'eroish still in my own 
 opinion." 
 
 " Did he take his clothes off? " inquired the 
 mate. 
 
 " Not a bit of it," said the delighted cook ; " not 
 a pair of trowsis, nor even 'is 'at, which was sunk." 
 
 " You 're a liar, cook," said the hero, looking up 
 for a moment. 
 
 169 
 
I70 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "You didn't take your trowsis off, George ? " said 
 the cook anxiously. 
 
 " I chucked my 'at on the pavement," growled 
 George, without looking up. 
 
 " Well, anyway, you went over the Embankment 
 after that pore girl like a Briton, didn't you ?" said 
 the other. 
 
 There was no reply. 
 
 " Didn't you .'' " said the cook appealingly. 
 
 " Did you expect me to go over like a Dutchman, 
 or wot.'" demanded George fiercely. 
 
 " That 's 'is modesty," said the cook, turning to 
 the others with the air of a showman. "'E can't 
 bear us to talk about it. Nearly drownded 'e was. 
 All but, and a barge came along and shoved a 
 boat-hook right through the seat of his trowsis an' 
 saved 'im. Stand up an' show 'em your trowsis, 
 George." 
 
 " If I do stand up," said George, in a voice 
 broken with rage, "it'll be a bad day for you, 
 my lad." 
 
 "Ain't he modest }" said the cook. " Don't it do 
 you good to 'ear 'im .^ He was just like that when 
 they got him ashore and the crowd started patting 
 him." 
 
 " Didn't like it .■"" queried the mate. 
 
 " Well, they overdid it a little, p'raps," admitted 
 the cook ; '' one old chap wot couldn't get near 
 
TWO OF A TRADE i;i 
 
 patted 'is 'ead with 'is stick, but it was all meant in 
 the way of kindness." 
 
 " I 'm proud of you, George," said the skipper 
 heartily. 
 
 "We all are," said the mate. 
 
 George grunted. 
 
 " I '11 write for the medal for him," said the 
 skipper. " Were there any witnesses, cook .' " 
 
 " Heaps of 'em," said the other, " but I gave 'em 
 'is name and address. ' Schooner John Henry, of 
 Limehouse, is 'is home,' I ses, ' and George Cooper 
 'is name.' " 
 
 " You talked a damned sight too much," said the 
 hero, " you lean, lop-sided son of a tinker." 
 
 "There's 'is modesty ag'in," said the cook, with 
 a knowing smile. " 'E 's busting with modesty, is 
 George. You should ha' seen 'im when a chap 
 took 'is fortygraph." 
 
 " Took his what } " said the skipper, becoming 
 interested. 
 
 " His fortygraph," said the cook. " 'E was a 
 young chap what was taking views for a noose- 
 paper. 'E took George drippin' wet just as 'e come 
 out of the water, 'e took him arter 'e 'ad 'is face 
 wiped, an' 'e took 'im when 'e was sitting up 
 swearing at a man wot asked 'im whether 'e was 
 very wet." 
 
 "An' you told 'im where I lived, and what I 
 
1/2 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 was," said George, turning on him and shaking his 
 fist. " You did." 
 
 " I did," said the cook simply. " You '11 live to 
 thank me for it, George." 
 
 The other gave a dreadful howl, and rising from 
 the deck walked forward and went below, giving a 
 brother seaman who patted his shoulder as he 
 passed a blow in the ribs, which nearly broke them. 
 Those on deck exchanged glances. 
 
 " Well, I don't know," said the mate, shrugging 
 his shoulders ; " seems to me if I 'd saved a fellow- 
 critter's life I shouldn't mind hearing about it." 
 
 " That 's what you think," said the skipper, draw- 
 ing himself up a little. " If ever you do do any- 
 thing of the kind perhaps you '11 feel different 
 about it." 
 
 " Well, I don't see how you should know any 
 more than me," said the other. 
 
 The skipper cleared his throat. 
 
 "There have been one or two little things in my 
 life which I 'm not exactly ashamed of," he said 
 modestly. 
 
 " That ain't much to boast of," said the mate, 
 wilfully misunderstanding him. 
 
 " I mean," said the skipper sharply, " one or two 
 things which some people might have been proud 
 of. But I 'm proud to say that there isn't a living 
 soul knows of 'em." 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 173 
 
 " I can quite believe that," assented the mate, and 
 walked off with an irritating smile. 
 
 The skipper was about to follow him, to com- 
 plain of the needless ambiguity of his remarks, 
 when he was arrested by a disturbance from the 
 foc'sle. In response to the cordial invitation of 
 the cook, the mate and one of the hands from 
 the brig Ettdeavour, moored alongside, had come 
 aboard and gone below to look at George. The 
 manner in which they were received was a slur 
 upon the hospitality of the John Henry ; and they 
 came up hurriedly, declaring that they never 
 wanted to see him again as long as they lived, and 
 shouting offensive remarks behind them as they 
 got over the side of their own vessel. 
 
 The skipper walked slowly to the foc'sle and 
 put his head down. 
 
 " George," he shouted. 
 
 " Sir," said the hero gruffly. 
 
 "Come down into the cabin," said the other, 
 turning away. " I want to have a little talk with 
 you." 
 
 George rose, and, first uttering some terrible 
 threats against the cook, who bore them with 
 noble fortitude, went on deck and followed the 
 skipper to the cabin. 
 
 At his superior's request he took a seat on the 
 locker, awkwardly enough, but smiled faintly as 
 
174 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 the skipper produced a bottle and a couple of 
 glasses. 
 
 " Your health, George," said the skipper, as he 
 pushed a glass towards him and raised his own. 
 
 " IMy bes' respec's, sir," said George, allowing the 
 liquor to roll slowly round his mouth before 
 swallowing it. He sighed heavily, and, putting his 
 empty glass on the table, allowed his huge head to 
 roll on his chest. 
 
 " Saving life don't seem to agree with you, 
 George," said the skipper. " I like modesty, but 
 you seem to me to carry it a trifle too far." 
 
 "It ain't modesty, sir," said George; "it's that 
 fort}'graph. When I think o' that I go 'ot all 
 over." 
 
 " I shouldn't let that worry me if I was you, 
 George," said the other kindly. " Looks ain't 
 everything." 
 
 " I didn't mean it that way," said George very 
 sourly. " My looks is good enough for me. In 
 fact, it is partly owing to my looks, so to speak, 
 that I 'm in a mess." 
 
 "A little more rum, George.'" said the skipper, 
 whose curiosity was roused. " I don't want to 
 know your business, far from it. But in my 
 position as cap'n, if any of my crew gets in 
 a mess I consider it 's my duty to lend them a 
 hand out of it, if I can." 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 175 
 
 " The world 'ud be a better place if there was 
 more like you," said George, waxing sentimental 
 as he sniffed delicately at the fragrant beverage. 
 " If that noosepaper, with them pictures, gets into 
 a certain party's 'ands, I 'm ruined." 
 
 " Not if I can help it, George," said the 
 other with great firmness. " How do you mean 
 ruined .'" 
 
 The seaman set his glass down on the little 
 table, and, leaning over, formed a word with his 
 lips, and then drew back slowly and watched the 
 effect. 
 
 " What ? " said the skipper. 
 
 The other repeated the performance, but beyond 
 seeing that some word of three syllables was 
 indicated the skipper obtained no information. 
 
 "You can speak a little louder," he said some- 
 what crustily. 
 
 " Bigamy ! " said George, breathing the word 
 solemnly. 
 
 " You ? " said the skipper, 
 
 George nodded. "And if my first only gets 
 hold of that paper, and sees my phiz and reads 
 my name, I 'm done for. There 's my reward for 
 saving a fellow-critter's life. Seven years." 
 
 "I'm surprised at you, George," said the 
 skipper sternly. "Such a good wife as you've 
 got too." 
 
176 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I ain't saying nothing agin number two," 
 grumbled George. "It's number one that didn't 
 suit. I left her eight years ago. She was a bad 
 'un. I took a v'y'ge to Australia furst, just to put 
 her out o' my mind a bit, an' I never seed her 
 since. Where am I if she sees all about me in the 
 paper .' " 
 
 " Is she what you 'd call a vindictive woman .'' " 
 inquired the other. " Nasty-tempered, I mean." 
 
 " Nasty-tempered," echoed the husband of two. 
 " If that woman could only have me put in gaol 
 she 'd stand on 'er 'ead for joy." 
 
 " Well, I '11 do what I can for you if the worst 
 comes to the worst/' said the skipper. " You 'd 
 better not say anything about this to anybody 
 else." 
 
 " Not me," said George fervently, as he rose, 
 " an' o' course you " 
 
 " You can rely on me," said the skipper in his 
 most stately fashion. 
 
 He thought of the seaman's confidence several 
 times during the evening, and, being somewhat 
 uncertain of the law as to bigamy, sought informa- 
 tion from the master of the Endeavour as they sat 
 in the latter's cabin at a quiet game of cribbage. 
 By virtue of several appearances in the law courts 
 with regard to collisions and spoilt cargoes this 
 gentleman had obtained a knowledge of law which 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 177 
 
 made him a recognized authority from London 
 Bridge to the Nore. 
 
 It was a delicate matter for the master of the 
 John Henry to broach, and, with the laudable desire 
 of keeping the hero's secret, he approached it by a 
 most circuitous route. He began with a burglary, 
 followed with an attempted murder, and finally 
 got on the subject of bigamy, via the " Deceased 
 Wife's Sister Bill." 
 
 " What sort o' bigamy ? " inquired the master of 
 the brig. 
 
 " Oh, two wives," said Captain Thomsett. 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the other, "but are there any 
 mitigating circumstances in the case, so that you 
 could throw yourself on the mercy o' the court, 
 I mean ? " 
 
 " My case ! " said Thomsett, glaring. " It ain't 
 for me." 
 
 " Oh, no, o' course not," said Captain Stubbs. 
 
 " What do you mean by ' o' course not ' .■• " 
 demanded the indignant master of the Jolm 
 Henry. 
 
 "Your deal," said Captain Stubbs, pushing the 
 cards over to him. 
 
 "You haven't answered my question," said 
 Captain Thomsett, regarding him offensively. 
 
 "There's some questions," said Stubbs slowly, 
 " as is best left unanswered. When you 've seen 
 
 N 
 
178 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 as much law as I have, my lad, you '11 know that 
 one of the first principles of English law is, that 
 nobody is bound to commit themselves." 
 
 " Do you mean to say you think it is me ? " 
 bellowed Captain Thomsett. 
 
 "I mean to say nothing," said Captain Stubbs, 
 putting his huge hands on the table. " But when 
 a man comes into my cabin and begins to hum an' 
 haw an' hint at things, and then begins to ask my 
 advice about bigamy, I can't help thinking. This 
 is a free country, and there 's no law ag'in thinking. 
 Make a clean breast of it, cap'n, an' I '11 do what 
 I can for you." 
 
 " You 're a blanked fool," said Captain Thomsett 
 wrathfuUy. 
 
 Captain Stubbs shook his head gently, and 
 smiled with infinite patience. " P'raps so," he said 
 modestly. " P'raps so ; but there 's one thing I 
 can do, and that is, I can read people." 
 
 " You can read me, I s'pose .'' " said Thomsett 
 sneeringly. 
 
 " Easy, my lad," said the other, still preserving, 
 though by an obvious effort, his appearance of 
 judicial calm. " I 've seen your sort before. One 
 in pertikler I call to mind. He 's doing four- 
 teen years now, pore chap. But you needn't be 
 alarmed, cap'n. Your secret is safe enough with 
 me." 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 179 
 
 Captain Thomsett got up and pranced up and 
 down the cabin, but Captain Stubbs remained 
 calm. He had seen that sort before. It was 
 interesting to the student of human nature, and 
 he regarded his visitor with an air of compassion- 
 ate interest. Then Captain Thomsett resumed his 
 seat, and, to preserve his own fair fame, betrayed 
 that of George. 
 
 " I knew it was either you or somebody your 
 kind 'art was interested in," said the discomfited 
 Stubbs, as they resumed the interrupted game. 
 " You can't help your face, cap'n. When you was 
 thinking about that pore chap's danger it was 
 working with emotion. It misled me, I own it, 
 but it ain't often I meet such a feeling 'art as 
 yours." 
 
 Captain Thomsett, his eyes glowing affection- 
 ately, gripped his friend's hand, and in the course 
 of the game listened to an exposition of the law 
 relating to bigamy of a most masterly and com- 
 plicated nature, seasoned with anecdotes calculated 
 to make the hardiest of men pause on the brink of 
 matrimony and think seriously of their position. 
 
 " Suppose this woman comes aboard after pore 
 George," said Thomsett. " What 's the best thing 
 to be done ? " 
 
 " The first thing," said Captain Stubbs, " is to 
 gain time. Put her off." 
 
i8o SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Off the ship, d' ye mean ? " inquired the other. 
 
 " No, no," said the jurist. " Pretend he 's ill and 
 can't see anybody. By gum, I 've got it." 
 
 He slapped the table with his open hand, and 
 regarded the other triumphantly. 
 
 " Let him turn into his bunk and pretend to be 
 dead," he continued, in a voice trembling with 
 pride at his strategy. " It 's pretty dark down 
 your foc'sle, I know. Don't have no light down 
 there, and tell him to keep quiet." 
 
 Captain Thomsett's eyes shone, but with a 
 qualified admiration. 
 
 "Ain't it somewhat sudden .'" he demurred. 
 
 Captain Stubbs regarded him with a look of 
 supreme artfulness, and slowly closed one eye. 
 
 "He got a chill going in the water,'' he said 
 quietly. 
 
 " Well, you 're a masterpiece," said Thomsett 
 ungrudgingly. " I will say this of you, you 're a 
 masterpiece. Mind this is all to be kept quite 
 secret." 
 
 " Make your mind easy," said the eminent jurist. 
 " If I told all I know there 's a good many men 
 in this river as 'ud be doing time at the present 
 moment." 
 
 Captain Thomsett expressed his pleasure at this 
 information, and, having tried in vain to obtain a 
 few of their names, even going so far as to suggest 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. i8i 
 
 some, looked at the clock, and, shaking hands, 
 departed to his own ship. Captain Stubbs, left to 
 himself, finished his pipe and retired to rest ; and 
 his mate, who had been lying in the adjoining 
 bunk during the consultation, vainly trying to get 
 to sleep, scratched his head, and tried to think of 
 a little strategy himself. He had glimmerings of 
 it before he fell asleep, but when he awoke next 
 morning it flashed before him in all the fulness of 
 its matured beauty. 
 
 He went on deck smiling, and, leaning his arms 
 on the side, gazed contemplatively at George, who 
 was sitting on the deck listening darkly to the 
 cook as that worthy read aloud from a news- 
 paper. 
 
 " Anything interesting, cook ? " demanded the 
 mate. 
 
 "About George, sir," said the cook, stop- 
 ping in his reading. "There's pictures of 'im 
 too." 
 
 He crossed to the side, and, handing the paper 
 to the mate, listened smilingly to the little ejacula- 
 tions of surprise and delight of that deceitful man 
 as he gazed upon the likenesses. "Wonderful," 
 he said emphatically. "Wonderful. I never saw 
 such a good likeness in my life, George. That'll 
 be copied in every newspaper in London, and 
 here 's the name in full too — ' George Cooper, 
 
i82 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 schooner JoJin Henry, now lying off Lime- 
 house.' " 
 
 He handed the paper back to the cook and 
 turned away grinning as George, unable to control 
 himself any longer, got up with an oath and went 
 below to nurse his wrath in silence. A little later 
 the mate of the brig, after a very confidential chat 
 with his own crew, lit his pipe and, with a jaunty 
 air, went ashore. 
 
 For the next hour or two George alternated 
 between the foc'sle and the deck, from whence 
 he cast harassed glances at the busy wharves 
 ashore. The skipper, giving it as his own sugges- 
 tion, acquainted him with the arrangements made 
 in case of the worst, and George, though he seemed 
 somewhat dubious about them, went below and 
 put his bed in order. 
 
 "It's very unlikely she'll see that particular 
 newspaper though,'' said the skipper encourag- 
 ingly. 
 
 " People are sure to see what you don't want 
 'em to," growled George. " Somebody what 
 knows us is sure to see it, an' show 'er.'' 
 
 " There 's a lady stepping into a waterman's 
 skiff now," said the skipper, glancing at the stairs. 
 " That wouldn't be her, I s'pose } " 
 
 He turned to the seaman as he spoke, 
 but the words had hardly left his lips before 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 183 
 
 George was going below and undressing for his 
 part. 
 
 "If anybody asks for me," he said, turning 
 to the cook, who was regarding his feverish 
 movements in much astonishment, " I 'm dead." 
 
 " You 're wot .? " inquired the other. 
 
 " Dead," said George. " Dead. Died at ten 
 o'clock this morning. D'ye understand, fat- 
 head .? " 
 
 " I can't say as 'ow I do," said the cook some- 
 what acrimoniously. 
 
 " Pass the word round that I 'm dead," repeated 
 George hurriedly. " Lay me out, cookie. I '11 do 
 as much for you one day." 
 
 Instead of complying the horrified cook rushed 
 up on deck to tell the skipper that George's brain 
 had gone ; but, finding him in the midst of a 
 hurried explanation to the men, stopped with 
 greedy ears to listen. The skiff was making 
 straight for the schooner, propelled by an elderly 
 waterman in his shirt-sleeves, the sole passenger 
 being a lady of ample proportions, who was watch- 
 ing the life of the river through a black veil. 
 
 In another minute the skiff bumped alongside, 
 and the waterman standing in the boat passed the 
 painter aboard. The skipper gazed at the fare 
 and, shivering inwardly, hoped that George was 
 a good actor. 
 
i84 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I want to see Mr. Cooper," said the lady 
 grimly, as she clambered aboard, assisted by the 
 waterman. 
 
 " I 'm very sorry, but you can't see him, mum," 
 said the skipper politely. 
 
 " Ho ! carn't I .-' " said the lady, raising her voice 
 a little. "You go an' tell him that his lawful 
 wedded wife, what he deserted, is aboard." 
 
 " It 'ud be no good, mum," said the skipper, 
 who felt the full dramatic force of the situation. 
 " I 'm afraid he wouldn't listen to you." 
 
 " Ho ! I think I can persuade 'im a bit," said 
 the lady, drawing in her lips. " Where is 'e ? " 
 
 " Up aloft," said the skipper, removing his hat. 
 
 " Don't you give me none of your lies," said the 
 lady, as she scanned both masts closely. 
 
 " He 's dead," said the skipper solemnly. 
 
 His visitor threw up her arms and staggered 
 back. The cook was nearest, and, throwing his 
 arms round her waist, he caught her as she swayed. 
 The mate, who was of a sympathetic nature, 
 rushed below for whisky, as she sank back on the 
 hatchway, taking the reluctant cook with her. 
 
 " Poor thing," said the skipper. 
 
 " Don't 'old 'er so tight, cook," said one of the 
 men. "There's no necessity to squeeze 'er." 
 
 " Pat 'er 'ands," said another. 
 
 " Pat 'em yourself," said the cook brusquely, as 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 185 
 
 he looked up and saw the delight of the crew 
 of the Endeavour, who were leaning over their 
 vessel's side regarding the proceedings with much 
 interest. 
 
 "Don't leave go of me," said the newly-made 
 widow, as she swallowed the whisky, and rose to 
 her feet. 
 
 " Stand by her, cook," said the skipper 
 authoritatively. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," said the cook. 
 
 They formed a procession below, the skipper 
 and mate leading; the cook with his fair burden, 
 choking her sobs with a handkerchief, and the 
 crew following. 
 
 " What did he die of } " she asked in a whisper 
 broken with sobs. 
 
 " Chill from the water," whispered the skipper in 
 response. 
 
 " I can't see 'im," she whispered. " It 's so dark 
 here. Has anybody got a match ? Oh ! here 's 
 some." 
 
 Before anybody could interfere she took a box 
 from a locker, and, striking one, bent over the 
 motionless George, and gazed at his tightly-closed 
 eyes and open mouth in silence. 
 
 "You'll set the bed alight," said the mate 
 in a low voice, as the end of the match dropped 
 off. 
 
i86 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "It won't hurt 'ini'' whispered the widow tearfully. 
 
 The mate, who had distinctly seen the corpse 
 shift a bit, thought differently. 
 
 " Nothing '11 'urt 'im now," whispered the widow, 
 sniffing as she struck another match. " Oh ! if he 
 could only sit up and speak to me." 
 
 For a moment the mate, who knew George's 
 temper, thought it highly probable that he would, 
 as the top of the second match fell between his 
 shirt and his neck. 
 
 " Don't look any more," said the skipper 
 anxiously; "you can't do him any good." 
 
 His visitor handed him the matches, and, for a 
 short time, sobbed in silence. 
 
 " We 've done all we could for him," said the 
 skipper at length. " It 'ud be best for you to go 
 home and lay down a bit." 
 
 "You 're all very good, I 'm sure," whispered the 
 widow, turning away. " I '11 send for him this 
 evening.'' 
 
 They all started, especially the corpse. 
 
 " Eh } " said the skipper. 
 
 " He was a bad 'usband to me," she continued, 
 still in the same sobbing whisper, " but I '11 'ave 'im 
 put away decent." 
 
 " You 'd better let us bury him," said the 
 skipper. " We can do it cheaper than you can, 
 perhaps .' " 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 187 
 
 " No. I '11 send for him this evening," said the 
 lady. "Are they 'is clothes.?" 
 
 "The last he ever wore," said the skipper 
 pathetically, pointing to the heap of clothing. 
 "There's his chest, pore chap, just as he left it." 
 
 The bereaved widow bent down, and, raising 
 the lid, shook her head tearfully as she regarded 
 the contents. Then she gathered up the clothes 
 under her left arm, and, still sobbing, took his 
 watch, his knife, and some small change from 
 his chest, while the crev/ in dumb show inquired 
 of the deceased, who was regarding her over the 
 edge of the bunk, what was to be done. 
 
 " I suppose there was some money due to him ?" 
 she inquired, turning to the skipper. 
 
 " Matter of a few shilhngs," he stammered. 
 
 " I '11 take them," she said, holding out her hand. 
 
 The skipper put his hand in- his pocket and, in 
 his turn, looked inquiringly at the late lamented 
 for guidance ; but George had closed his eyes 
 again to the world, and, after a moment's hesit- 
 ation, he slowly counted the money into her 
 hand. 
 
 She dropped the coins into her pocket, and, 
 with a parting glance at the motionless figure 
 in the bunk, turned away. The procession made 
 its way on deck again, but not in the same order, 
 the cook carefully bringing up the rear. 
 
i88 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "If there's any other little things," she said, 
 pausing at the side to get a firmer grip of the 
 clothes under her arm. 
 
 " You shall have them," said the skipper, who 
 had been making mental arrangements to have 
 George buried before her return. 
 
 Apparently much comforted by this assurance, 
 she allowed herself to be lowered into the boat, 
 which was waiting. The excitement of the crew 
 of the brig, who had been watching her move- 
 ments with eager interest, got beyond the bounds 
 of all decency as they saw her being pulled ashore 
 with the clothes in her lap. 
 
 "You can come up now," said the skipper, as 
 he caught sight of George's face at the scuttle. 
 
 " Has she gone .'' " inquired the seaman 
 anxiously. 
 
 The skipper nodded, and a wild cheer rose 
 from the crew of the brig as George came on 
 deck in his scanty garments, and from behind 
 the others peered cautiously over the side. 
 
 "Where is she.'" he demanded. 
 
 The skipper pointed to the boat. 
 
 " That ? " said George, starting. " That ? That 
 ain't my wife." 
 
 "Not your wife.'" said the skipper, staring. 
 " Whose is she then .' " 
 
 " How the devil should I know .' " said George, 
 
TWO OF A TRADE. 189 
 
 throwing discipline to the winds in his agitation. 
 "It ain't my wife." 
 
 " P'raps it 's one you Ve forgotten," suggested 
 the skipper in a low voice. 
 
 George looked at him and choked. " I 've 
 never seen her before," he replied, "s'elp me. 
 Call her back. Stop her.'' 
 
 The mate rushed aft and began to haul in the 
 ship's boat, but George caught him suddenly by 
 the arm. 
 
 " Never mind," he said bitterly ; " better let her 
 go. She seems to know too much for me. Some- 
 body 's been talking to her." 
 
 It was the same thought that was troubling 
 the skipper, and he looked searchingly from one 
 to the other for an explanation. He fancied that 
 he saw it when he met the eye of the mate of 
 the brig, and he paused irresolutely as the skiff 
 reached the stairs, and the woman, springing 
 ashore, waved the clothes triumphantly in the 
 direction of the schooner and disappeared. 
 
AN INTERVENTION 
 
 THERE was bad blood between the captain 
 and mate who comprised the officers and 
 crew of the sailing-barge " Swallow " ; and the 
 outset of their voyage from London to Littleport 
 was conducted in glum silence. As far as the 
 Nore they had scarcely spoken, and what little 
 did pass was mainly in the shape of threats and 
 abuse. Evening, chill and overcast, was drawing 
 in ; distant craft disappeared somewhere between 
 the waste of waters and the sky, and the side- 
 lights of neighbouring vessels were beginning to 
 shine over the water. The wind, with a little 
 rain in it, was unfavourable to much progress, 
 and the trough of the sea got deeper as the 
 waves ran higher and splashed by the barge's 
 side. 
 
 " Get the side-lights out, and quick, you," 
 growled the skipper, who was at the helm. 
 
 The mate, a black-haired, fierce-eyed fellow of 
 about twenty-five, set about the task with much 
 deliberation. 
 
 190 
 
AN INTERVENTION. 191 
 
 "And look lively, you lump," continued the 
 skipper. 
 
 " I don't want none of your lip," said the mate 
 furiously ; '' so don't you give me none." 
 
 The skipper yawned, and stretching his mighty 
 frame laughed disagreeably. " You '11 take what 
 I give you, my lad," said he, "whether it's lip 
 or fist." 
 
 " Lay a finger on me and I '11 knife you,'' said 
 the mate. " I ain't afraid of you, for all your 
 size." 
 
 He put out the side-lights, casting occasional 
 looks of violent hatred at the skipper, who, being 
 a man of tremendous physique and rough tongue, 
 had goaded his subordinate almost to madness. 
 
 " If you 've done skulking," he cried, as he 
 knocked the ashes out of his pipe, " come and 
 take the helm." 
 
 The mate came aft and relieved him ; and he 
 stood for a few seconds taking a look round 
 before going below. He dropped his pipe, and 
 stooped to recover it ; and in that moment the 
 mate, with a sudden impulse, snatched up a hand- 
 spike and dealt him a crashing blow on the head. 
 Half-blinded and stunned by the blow, the man 
 fell on his knees, and shielding his face with his 
 hands, strove to rise. Before he could do so the 
 mate struck wildly at him again, and with a great 
 
192 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 cry he fell backwards and rolled heavily over- 
 board. The mate, with a sob in his breath, gazed 
 wildly astern, and waited for him to rise. He 
 waited : minutes seemed to pass, and still the body 
 of the skipper did not emerge from the depths. 
 He reeled back in a stupor ; then he gave a faint 
 cry as his eye fell on the boat, which was dragging 
 a yard or two astern, and a figure which clung 
 desperately to the side of it. Before he had quite 
 realized what had happened, he saw the skipper 
 haul himself on to the stern of the boat and then 
 roll heavily into it. 
 
 Panic-stricken at the sight, he drew his knife to 
 cut the boat adrift, but paused as he reflected that 
 she and her freight would probably be picked up 
 by some passing vessel. As the thought struck 
 him he saw the dim form of the skipper come 
 towards the bow of the boat and, seizing the rope, 
 begin to haul in towards the barge. 
 
 " Stop ! " shouted the mate hoarsely ; " stop ! or 
 I '11 cut you loose.'' 
 
 The skipper let the rope go, and the boat pulled 
 up with a jerk. 
 
 " I 'm independent of you," the skipper shouted, 
 picking up one of the loose boards from the 
 bottom of the boat and brandishing it. " If 
 there's any sea on I can keep her head to it 
 with this. Cut away." 
 
AN INTERVENTION. 193 
 
 " If I let you come aboard," said the mate, "will 
 you swear to let bygones be bygones ? " 
 
 " No ! " thundered the other. " Whether I come 
 aboard or not don't make much difference. It'll 
 be about twenty years for you, you murdering 
 hound, when I get ashore." 
 
 The mate made no reply, but sat silently 
 steering, keeping, however, a wary eye on the 
 boat towing behind. He turned sick and faint 
 as he thought of the consequences of his action, 
 and vainly cast about in his mind for some means 
 of escape. 
 
 " Are you going to let me come aboard ? " 
 presently demanded the skipper, who was 
 shivering in his wet clothes. 
 
 " You can come aboard on my terms," repeated 
 the mate doggedly. 
 
 " I '11 make no terms with you," cried the other. 
 " I hand you over to the police directly I get 
 ashore, you mutinous dog. I 've got a good 
 witness in my head." 
 
 After this there was silence — silence unbroken 
 through the long hours of the night as they 
 slowly passed. Then the dawn came. The side- 
 lights showed fainter and fainter in the water ; 
 the light on the mast shed no rays on the deck, 
 but twinkled uselessly behind its glass. Then 
 the mate turned his gaze from the wet, cheerless 
 
 O 
 
194 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 deck and heaving seas to the figure in the boat 
 dragging behind. The skipper, who returned his 
 gaze with a fierce scowl, was holding his wet 
 handkerchief to his temple. He removed it as 
 the mate looked, and showed a ghastly wound. 
 Still, neither of them spoke. The mate averted 
 his gaze, and sickened with fear as he thought 
 of his position ; and in that instant the skipper 
 clutched the painter, and, with a mighty heave, 
 sent the boat leaping towards the stern of the 
 barge, and sprang on deck. The mate rose to 
 his feet ; but the other pushed him fiercely aside, 
 and picking up the handspike, which lay on the 
 raised top of the cabin, went below. Half an 
 hour later he came on deck with a fresh suit of 
 clothes on, and his head roughly bandaged, and 
 standing in front of the mate, favoured him with 
 a baleful stare. 
 
 " Gimme that helm," he cried. 
 
 The mate relinquished it. 
 
 " You dog ! " snarled the other, " to try and 
 kill a man when he wasn't looking, and then 
 keep him in his wet clothes in the boat all night. 
 Make the most o' your time. It'll be many a 
 day before you see the sea again." 
 
 The mate groaned in spirit, but made no 
 reply. 
 
 " I 've wrote everything down with the time 
 
AN INTERVENTION. 195 
 
 it happened," continued the other in a voice of 
 savage satisfaction ; " an' I 've locl<ed that hand- 
 spike up in my locker. It's got blood on it." 
 
 " That 's enough about it," said the mate, turn- 
 ing at last and speaking thickly. " What I 've 
 done I must put up with." 
 
 He walked forward to end the discussion ; 
 but the skipper shouted out choice bits from 
 time to time as they occurred to him, and sat 
 steering and gibing, a gruesome picture of 
 vengeance. 
 
 Suddenly he sprang to his feet with a sharp cry. 
 " There 's somebody in the water," he roared ; 
 "stand by to pick him up." 
 
 As he spoke he pointed with his left hand, 
 and with his right steered for something which 
 rose and fell lazily on the water a short distance 
 from them. 
 
 The mate, following his outstretched arm, saw 
 it too, and picking up a boat-hook stood ready, 
 until they were soon close enough to distinguish 
 the body of a man supported by a life-belt. 
 
 " Don't miss him," shouted the skipper. 
 
 The mate grasped the rigging with one hand, 
 and leaning forward as far as possible stood with 
 the hook poised. At first it seemed as though 
 the object would escape them, but a touch of 
 the helm in the nick of time just enabled the 
 
196 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 mate to reach. The hook caught in the jacket, 
 and with great care he gradually shortened it, 
 and drew the body close to the side. 
 
 " He 's dead," said the skipper, as he fastened 
 the helm and stood looking down into the wet 
 face of the man. Then he stooped, and taking 
 him by the collar of his coat dragged the 
 streaming figure on to the deck. 
 
 " Take the helm," he said. 
 
 " Ay, ay," said the other ; and the skipper 
 disappeared below with his burden. 
 
 A moment later he came on deck again. 
 " We '11 take in sail and anchor. Sharp there 1 " 
 he cried. 
 
 The mate went to his assistance. There was 
 but little wind, and the task was soon accom- 
 plished, and both men, after a hasty glance 
 round, ran below. The wet body of the sailor 
 lay on a locker, and a pool of water was on the 
 cabin floor. 
 
 The mate hastily swabbed up the water, and 
 then lit the fire and put on the kettle ; while the 
 skipper stripped the sailor of his clothes, and 
 flinging some blankets in front of the fire placed 
 him upon them. 
 
 For a long time they toiled in silence, in the 
 faint hope that life still remained in the apparently 
 dead body. 
 
AN INTERVENTION. 197 
 
 " Poor devil ! " said the skipper at length, and 
 fell to rubbing again. 
 
 " I don't believe he 's gone," said the mate, 
 panting with his exertions. " He don't feel like 
 a dead man." 
 
 Ten minutes later the figure stirred slightly, 
 and the men talked in excited whispers as they 
 worked. A faint sigh came from the lips of the 
 sailor, and his eyes partly opened. 
 
 " It 's all right, matey," said the skipper ; " you 
 lie still ; we '11 do the rest. Jem, get some coffee 
 ready." 
 
 By the time it was prepared the partly drowned 
 man was conscious that he was alive, and stared 
 in a dazed fashion at the man who was using 
 him so roughly. Conscious that his patient was 
 improving rapidly, the latter lifted him in his 
 arms and placed him in his own bunk, and 
 proffered him some steaming hot coffee. He 
 sipped a little, then lapsed into unconsciousness 
 again. The two men looked at each other 
 blankly. 
 
 "Some of 'em goes like that," said the skipper. 
 "I've seen it afore. Just as you think they're 
 pulling round they slip their cable." 
 
 "We must keep him warm," said the mate. 
 " I don't see as we can do any more." 
 
 "We'll get under way again," said the other; 
 
198 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 and pausing to heap some more clothes over the 
 sailor he went on deck, followed by the mate; 
 and in a short time the Swallow was once more 
 moving through the water. Then the skipper, 
 leaving the mate at the helm, went below. 
 
 Half an hour passed. 
 
 " Go and see what you can make of him," 
 said the skipper as he re-appeared and took 
 the helm. " He keeps coming round a bit, and 
 then just drifts back. Seems like as if he can't 
 hook on to life. Don't seem to take no interest 
 in it." 
 
 The mate obeyed in silence ; and for the 
 remainder of the day the two men relieved each 
 other at the bedside of the sailor. Towards 
 evening, as they were entering the river which 
 runs up to Littleport, he made decided progress 
 under the skipper's ministrations ; and the latter 
 thrust his huge head up the hatchway and grinned 
 in excusable triumph at the mate as he imparted 
 the news. Then he suddenly remembered himself, 
 and the smile faded. The light, too, faded from 
 the mate's face. 
 
 "'Bout that mutiny and attempted murder,'' 
 said the skipper, and paused as though waiting 
 for the mate to contradict or qualify the terms ; 
 but he made no reply. 
 
 " I give you in charge as soon as we get to 
 
AN INTERVENTION. 199 
 
 port," continued the other. "Soon as the ship's 
 berthed, you go below." 
 
 "Ay, ay," said the mate, but without looking 
 at him. 
 
 "Nice thing it'll be for your wife," said the 
 skipper sternly. " You '11 get no mercy from me." 
 
 " I don't expect none," said the mate huskily. 
 "What I've done I'll stand to." 
 
 The reply on the skipper's lips merged into 
 a grunt, and he went below. The sailor was 
 asleep, and breathing gently and regularly ; and 
 after regarding him for some time the watcher 
 returned to the deck and busied himself with 
 certain small duties preparatory to landing. 
 
 Slowly the light faded out of the sky, and 
 the banks of the river grew indistinct ; and 
 one by one the lights of Littleport came into 
 view as they rounded the last bend of the 
 river, and saw the little town lying behind its 
 veil of masts and rigging. The skipper came aft 
 and took the helm from the mate, and looked 
 at him out of the corner of his eye, as he stood 
 silently waiting with his hands by his side. 
 
 " Take in sail," said the skipper shortly ; and 
 leaving the helm a bit, ran to assist him. . Five 
 minutes later the Szvalloiv was alongside of the 
 wharf, and then, everything made fast and snug, 
 the two men turned and faced each other. 
 
20O SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " Go below," said the skipper sternly. The 
 mate walked off. "And take care of that chap. 
 I 'm going ashore. If anybody asks you about 
 these scratches, I got 'em in a row down 
 Wapping — D'ye hear?" 
 
 The mate heard, but there was a thickness 
 in his throat which prevented him from reply- 
 ing promptly. By the time he had recovered 
 his voice the other had disappeared over the 
 edge of the wharf, and the sound of his retreat- 
 ing footsteps rang over the cobblestone quay. 
 The mate in a bewildered fashion stood for a 
 short time motionless ; then he turned, and 
 drawing a deep breath, went below. 
 
THE GREY PARROT 
 
 THE Chief Engineer and the Third sat at 
 tea on the S.S. Curlew in the East India 
 Docks. The small and not over-clean steward 
 having placed everything he could think of 
 upon the table, and then added everything the 
 Chief could think of, had assiduously poured 
 out two cups of tea and withdrawn by request. 
 The two men ate steadily, conversing between 
 bites, and interrupted occasionally by a hoarse 
 and sepulchral voice, the owner of which, being 
 much exercised by the sight of the food, asked 
 for it, prettily at first, and afterwards in a way 
 which at least compelled attention. 
 
 "That's pretty good for a parrot," said the 
 Third critically. "Seems to know what he's 
 saying too. No, don't give it anything. It'll 
 stop if you do." 
 
 "There's no pleasure to me in listening to 
 coarse language," said the Chief with dignity. 
 
 He absently dipped a piece of bread and 
 butter in the Third's tea, and losing it chased it 
 
202 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 round and round the bottom of the cup with 
 his finger, the Third regarding the operation 
 with an interest and emotion which he was at 
 first unable to understand. 
 
 " You 'd better pour yourself out another cup,'' 
 he said thoughtfully as he caught the Third's 
 eye. 
 
 " I 'm going to," said the other dryly. 
 
 "The man I bought it of," said the Chief, 
 giving the bird the sop, "said that it was a 
 perfectly respectable parrot and wouldn't know 
 a bad word if it heard it. I hardly like to give 
 it to my wife now.'' 
 
 "It's no good being too particular," said the 
 Third, regarding him with an ill-concealed grin ; 
 " that 's the worst of all you young married 
 fellows. Seem to think your wife has got to 
 be wrapped up in brown paper. Ten chances 
 to one she '11 be amused." 
 
 The Chief shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. 
 " I bought the bird to be company for her," he 
 said slowly ; " she '11 be very lonesome without 
 me, Rogers." 
 
 " How do you know ? " inquired the other. 
 
 " She said so,'' was the reply. 
 
 " When you ve been married as long as I 
 have," said the Third, who having been married 
 some fifteen years felt that their usual j^ositions 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 203 
 
 were somewhat reversed, "you'll know that 
 generally speaking they're glad to get rid ot 
 you." 
 
 "What for?" demanded the Chief in a voice 
 that Othello might have envied. 
 
 "Well, you get in the way a bit," said Rogers 
 with secret enjoyment ; " you see you upset the 
 arrangements. House-cleaning and all that sort 
 of thing gets interrupted. They're glad to see 
 you back at first, and then glad to see the back 
 of you." 
 
 " There 's wives and wives," said the bride- 
 groom tenderly. 
 
 "And mine's a good one," said the Third, 
 "registered Ai at Lloyd's, but she don't worry 
 about me going away. Your wife's thirty years 
 younger than you, isn't she?" 
 
 " Twenty -five," corrected the other shortly. 
 " You see what I 'm afraid of is, that she '11 get 
 too much attention." 
 
 " Well, women like that," remarked the Third. 
 
 "But I don't, damn it," cried the Chief hotly. 
 " When I think of it I get hot all over. Boiling 
 hot." 
 
 "That won't last," said the other reassuringly; 
 you won't care twopence this time next year." 
 
 " We 're not all alike," growled the Chief; " some 
 of us have got finer feelings than others have. I 
 
204 SEA URCHINS. . 
 
 saw the chap next door looking at her as we 
 passed him this morning.' 
 
 "Lor," said the Third. 
 
 " I don't want any of your damned impudence," 
 said the Chief sharply. " He put his hat on 
 straighter when he passed us. What do you 
 think of that?" 
 
 " Can't say," replied the other with commend- 
 able gravity; "it might mean anything." 
 
 " If he has any of his nonsense while I 'm away 
 I '11 break his neck," said the Chief passionately. 
 " I shall know of it." 
 
 The other raised his eyebrows. 
 
 " I 've asked the landlady to keep her eyes 
 open a bit," said the Chief " My wife was 
 brought up in the country, and she 's very young 
 and simple, so that it is quite right and proper 
 for her to have a motherly old body to look 
 after her." 
 
 " Told your wife ? " queried Rogers. 
 
 " No," said the other. " Fact is, I 've got an idea 
 about that parrot. I 'm going to tell her it 's a 
 magic bird, and will tell me everything she does 
 while I 'm away. Anything the landlady tells 
 me I shall tell her I got from the parrot. For 
 one thing, I don't want her to go out after seven 
 of an evening, and she's promised me she won't. 
 If she does I shall know, and pretend that I 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 205 
 
 know through the parrot. What do you think 
 of it?" 
 
 " Think of it ? " said the Third, staring at him. 
 "Think of it? Fancy a man telling a grown-up 
 woman a yarn like that ! " 
 
 "She believes in warnings and death-watches, 
 and all that sort of thing," said the Chief, " so why 
 shouldn't she ? " 
 
 "Well, you'll know whether she believes in 
 it or not when you come back," said Rogers, 
 " and it '11 be a great pity, because it 's a beautiful 
 talker." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " said the other. 
 
 " I mean it 11 get its little neck wrung," said the 
 Third. 
 
 " Well, we '11 see," said Gannett. " I shall know 
 what to think if it does die." 
 
 " I shall never see that bird again," said Rogers, 
 shaking his head as the Chief took up the cage and 
 handed it to the steward, who was to accompany 
 him home with it. 
 
 The couple left the ship and proceeded down 
 the East India Dock Road side by side, the only 
 incident being a hot argument between a constable 
 and the engineer as to whether he could or could 
 not be held responsible for the language in which 
 the parrot saw fit to indulge when the steward 
 happened to drop it. 
 
2o6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 The engineer took the cage at his door, and, not 
 without some misgivings, took it upstairs into the 
 parlour and set it on the table. Mrs. Gannett, 
 a simple-looking woman, with sleepy brown eyes 
 and a docile manner, clapped her hands with joy. 
 
 " Isn't it a beauty ? " said Mr. Gannett, looking 
 at it ; "I bought it to be company for you while 
 I 'm away." 
 
 " You 're too good to me, Jem," said his wife. 
 She walked all round the cage admiring it, the 
 parrot, which was of a highly suspicious and 
 nervous disposition, having had boys at its last 
 place, turning with her. After she had walked 
 round him five times he got sick of it, and in a 
 simple sailorly fashion said so. 
 
 " Oh, Jem," said his wife. 
 
 "It's a beautiful talker," said Gannett hastily, 
 " and it 's so clever that it picks up everything it 
 hears, but it '11 soon forget it." 
 
 "It looks as though it knows what you are 
 saying," said his wife. " Just look at it, the artful 
 thing." 
 
 The opportunity was too good to be missed, 
 and in a few straightforward lies the engineer 
 acquainted Mrs. Gannett of the miraculous powers 
 with which he had chosen to endow it. 
 
 " But you don't believe it ? " said his wife, staring 
 at him open-mouthed. 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 207 
 
 " I do," said the engineer firmly. 
 
 " But how can it know what I 'm doing when 
 I 'm away ? " persisted Mrs. Gannett. 
 
 " Ah, that 's its secret," said the engineer ; " a 
 good many people would like to know that, but 
 nobody has found out yet. It 's a magic bird, and 
 when you 've said that you 've said all there is to 
 say about it." 
 
 Mrs. Gannett, wrinkling her forehead, eyed the 
 marvellous bird curiously. 
 
 " You '11 find it 's quite true," said Gannett ; 
 " when I come back that bird '11 be able to tell me 
 how you Ve been and all about you. Everything 
 you've done during my absence." 
 
 " Good gracious ! " said the astonished Mrs. 
 Gannett. 
 
 "If you stay out after seven of an evening, 
 or do anything else that I shouldn't like, that 
 bird '11 tell me," continued the engineer impres- 
 sively. "It'll tell me who comes to see you, 
 and in fact it will tell me everything you do 
 while I 'm away." 
 
 " Well, it won't have anything bad to tell of 
 me," said Mrs. Gannett composedly, "unless it 
 tells lies." 
 
 " It can't tell lies," said her husband confidently, 
 "and now, if you go and put your bonnet on, 
 we '11 drop in at the theatre for half an hour." 
 
2o8 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 It was a prophetic utterance, for he made such 
 a fuss over the man next to his wife offering her 
 his opera-glasses, that they left, at the urgent 
 request of the management, in almost exactly 
 that space of time. 
 
 " You 'd better carry me about in a bandbox," 
 said Mrs. Gannett wearily as the outraged engineer 
 stalked home beside her. "What harm was the 
 man doing?" 
 
 " You must have given him some encourage- 
 ment," said Mr. Gannett fiercely — " made eyes at 
 him or something. A man wouldn't offer to lend 
 a lady his opera-glasses without." 
 
 Mrs. Gannett tossed her head — and that so 
 decidedly, that a passing stranger turned his 
 head and looked at her. Mr. Gannett acceler- 
 ated his pace, and taking his wife's arm, led 
 her swiftly home with a passion too great for 
 words. 
 
 By the morning his anger had evaporated, but 
 his misgivings remained. He left after breakfast 
 for the Curlew, which was to sail in the afternoon, 
 leaving behind him copious instructions, by fol- 
 lowing which his wife would be enabled to come 
 down and see him off with the minimum exposure 
 of her fatal charms. 
 
 Left to herself Mrs. Gannett dusted the room, 
 until, coming to the parrot's cage, she put down 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 209 
 
 the duster and eyed its eerie occupant curiously. 
 She fancied that she saw an evil glitter in the 
 creature's eye, and the knowing way in which 
 it drew the film over it was as near an approach 
 to a wink as a bird could get. 
 
 She was still looking at it when there was a 
 knock at the door, and a bright little woman — 
 rather smartly dressed — bustled into the room, 
 and greeted her effusively. 
 
 " I just came to see you, my dear, because I 
 thought a little outing would do me good," she 
 said briskly ; " and if you 've no objection I '11 
 come down to the docks with you to see the 
 boat off." 
 
 Mrs. Gannett assented readily. It would ease 
 the engineer's mind, she thought, if he saw her 
 with a chaperon. 
 
 " Nice bird," said Mrs. Clufifins, mechanically 
 bringing her parasol to the charge. 
 
 " Don't do that," said her friend hastily. 
 
 " Why not ? " said the other. 
 
 " Language ! " said Mrs. Gannett solemnly. 
 
 " Well, I must do something to it," said Mrs. 
 Cluffins restlessly. 
 
 She held the parasol near the cage and sud- 
 denly opened it. It was a flaming scarlet, and for 
 the moment the shock took the parrot's breath 
 away. 
 
 P 
 
210 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " He don't mind that,'' said Mrs. Gannett 
 
 The parrot, hopping to the farthest corner of the 
 bottom of his cage, said something feebly. Find- 
 ing that nothing dreadful happened, he repeated 
 his remark somewhat more boldly, and, being 
 convinced after all that the apparition was quite 
 harmless and that he had displayed his craven 
 spirit for nothing, hopped back on his perch and 
 raved wickedly. 
 
 " If that was my bird," said Mrs. Cluffins, 
 almost as scarlet as her parasol, " I should wring 
 its neck." 
 
 "No, you wouldn't,'' said Mrs. Gannett solemnly. 
 And having quieted the bird by throwing a cloth 
 over its cage, she explained its properties. 
 
 " What ! " said Mrs. Clufifins, unable to sit still 
 in her chair. " You mean to tell me your husband 
 said that ! " 
 
 Mrs. Gannett nodded. 
 
 " He 's awfully jealous of me," she said with a 
 slight simper. 
 
 " I wish he was my husband," said Mrs. Cluffins 
 in a thin, hard voice. " I wish C. would talk to 
 me like that. I wish somebody would try and 
 persuade C. to talk to me like that.'' 
 
 " It shows he 's fond of me," said Mrs. Gannett, 
 looking down. 
 
 Mrs. Cluffins jumped up, and snatching the cover 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 211 
 
 off the cage, endeavoured, but in vain, to get the 
 parasol through the bars. 
 
 " And you beUeve that rubbish ! " she said 
 scathingly. " Boo, you wretch ! " 
 
 " I don't believe it," said her friend, taking her 
 gently away and covering the cage hastily just 
 as the bird was recovering, " but I let him think 
 
 do." 
 
 " I call it an outrage," said Mrs. Clufifins, waving 
 the parasol wildly. " I never heard of such a 
 thing ; I 'd like to give Mr. Gannett a piece of 
 my mind. Just about half an hour of it. He 
 wouldn't be the same man afterwards — I 'd parrot 
 him." 
 
 Mrs. Gannett, soothing her agitated friend as 
 well as she was able, led her gently to a chair and 
 removed her bonnet, and finding that complete 
 recovery was impossible while. the parrot remained 
 in the room, took that wonder-working bird 
 outside. 
 
 By the time they had reached the docks and 
 boarded the Curlew Mrs. Cluffins had quite 
 recovered her spirits. She roamed about the 
 steamer asking questions, which savoured more 
 of idle curiosity than a genuine thirst for know- 
 ledge, and was at no pains to conceal her opinion 
 of those who were unable to furnish her with 
 satisfactory replies. 
 
212 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I shall think of you every day, Jem," said 
 Mrs. Gannett tenderly. 
 
 " I shall think of you every minute," said the 
 engineer reproachfully. 
 
 He sighed gently and gazed in a scandalized 
 fashion at Mrs. Cluffins, who was carrying on a 
 desperate flirtation with one of the apprentices. 
 
 " She 's very light-hearted," said his wife, follow- 
 ing the direction of his eyes. 
 
 "She is," said Mr. Gannett curtly, as the un- 
 conscious Mrs. Cluffins shut her parasol and 
 rapped the apprentice playfully with the handle. 
 " She seems to be on very good terms with 
 Jenkins, laughing and carrying on. I don't 
 suppose she 's ever seen him before." 
 
 " Poor young things," said Mrs. Cluffins 
 solemnly, as she came up to them. " Don't you 
 worry, Mr. Gannett ; I '11 look after her and keep 
 her from moping." 
 
 "You're very kind," said the engineer slowly. 
 
 "We'll have a jolly time,'' said Mrs. Cluffins. 
 " I often wish my husband was a seafaring man. 
 A wife does have mare freedom, doesn't she ? " 
 
 " More what ? " inquired Mr. Gannett huskily. 
 
 " More freedom," said Mrs. Cluffins gravely. 
 " I always envy sailors' wives. They can do as 
 they like. No husband to look after them for 
 nine or ten months in the year." 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 213 
 
 Before the unhappy engineer could put his 
 indignant thoughts into words there was a 
 warning cry from the gangway, and with a hasty 
 farewell he hurried below. The visitors went 
 ashore, the gangway was shipped, and in re- 
 sponse to the clang of the telegraph the Curlew 
 drifted slowly away from the quay and headed 
 for the swing bridge slowly opening in front 
 of her. 
 
 The two ladies hurried to the pier-head and 
 watched the steamer down the river until a bend 
 hid it from view. Then Mrs. Gannett, with a 
 sensation of having lost something, due, so her 
 friend assured her, to the want of a cup of tea, 
 went slowly back to her lonely home. 
 
 In the period of grass widowhood which ensued, 
 Mrs. Cluffins's visits formed almost the sole relief 
 to the bare monotony of existence. As a com- 
 panion the parrot was an utter failure, its language 
 being so irredeemably bad that it spent most of 
 its time in the spare room with a cloth over its 
 cage, wondering when the days were going to 
 lengthen a bit. Mrs. Cluffins suggested selling it, 
 but her friend repelled the suggestion with horror, 
 and refused to entertain it at any price, even that 
 of the publican at the corner, who, having heard 
 of the bird's command of language, was bent 
 upon buying it. 
 
214 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I wonder what that beauty will have to tell 
 your husband," said Mrs. Cluffins, as they sat 
 together one day some three months after the 
 Curlew's departure. 
 
 " I should hope that he has forgotten that non- 
 sense," said Mrs. Gannett, reddening ; " he never 
 alludes to it in his letters." 
 
 "Sell it," said Mrs. Cluffins peremptorily. " It's 
 no good to 3'ou, and Hobson would give anything 
 for it almost." 
 
 Mrs. Gannett shook her head. "The house 
 wouldn't hold my husband if I did," she remarked 
 with a shiver. 
 
 "Oh, j'es, it would," said Mrs. Cluffins ; " you do 
 as I tell you, and a much smaller house than this 
 would hold him. I told C. to tell Hobson he 
 should have it for five pounds." 
 
 " But he mustn't,'' said her friend in alarm. 
 
 " Leave yourself right in my hands," said Mrs. 
 Cluffins, spreading out two small palms and 
 regarding them complacently. " It '11 be all 
 right, I promise you." 
 
 She put her arm round her friend's waist 
 and led her to the window, talking earnestly. 
 In five minutes Mrs. Gannett was wavering, in 
 ten she had given away, and in fifteen the 
 energetic Mrs. Cluffins was en route for Hobson's, 
 swinging the cage so violently in her excitement 
 
THE GREY PARROT. Hi, 
 
 that the parrot was reduced to holding on to its 
 perch with claws and bill. Mrs. Gannett watched 
 the progress from the window, and with a queer 
 look on her face sat down to think out the 
 points of attack and defence in the approaching 
 fray. 
 
 A week later a four-wheeler drove up to the 
 door, and the engineer, darting upstairs three 
 steps at a time, dropped an armful of parcels 
 on the floor, and caught his wife in an embrace 
 which would have done credit to a bear. Mrs. 
 Gannett, for reasons of which lack of muscle 
 was only one, responded less ardently. 
 
 " Ha, it 's good to be home again," said 
 Gannett, sinking into an easy- chair and pulling 
 his wife on his knee. "And how have you 
 been ? Lonely ? " 
 
 " I got used to it," said Mrs. Gannett softly. 
 
 The engineer coughed. "You had the parrot," 
 he remarked. 
 
 "Yes, I had the magic parrot," said Mrs. 
 Gannett. 
 
 " How 's it getting on ? " said her husband, 
 looking round. "Where is it?" 
 
 "Part of it is on the mantelpiece," said Mrs. 
 Gannett, trying to speak calmly, "part of it is 
 in a bonnet-box upstairs, some of it's in my 
 pocket, and here is the remainder." 
 
2i6 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 She fumbled in her pocket and placed in his 
 hand a cheap two-bladed clasp knife. 
 
 " On the mantelpiece ! " repeated the engineer 
 staring at the knife ; "in a bonnet-box 1 " 
 
 " Those blue vases," said his wife. 
 
 Mr. Gannett put his hand to his head. If 
 he had heard aright one parrot had changed 
 into a pair of vases, a bonnet, and a knife. A 
 magic bird with a vengeance. 
 
 " I sold it," said Mrs. Gannett suddenly. 
 
 The engineer's knee stiffened inhospitably, and 
 his arm dropped from his wife's waist. She 
 rose quietly and took a chair opposite. 
 
 " Sold it ! " said Mr. Gannett in awful tones. 
 " Sold my parrot ! " 
 
 " I didn't like it, Jem," said his wife. " I 
 didn't want that bird watching me, and I did 
 want the vases, and the bonnet, and the little 
 present for you." 
 
 Mr. Gannett pitched the little present to the 
 other end of the room. 
 
 " You see it mightn't have told the truth, 
 Jem," continued Mrs. Gannett. " It might have 
 told all sorts of lies about me, and made no 
 end of mischief" 
 
 " It couldn't lie," shouted the engineer passion- 
 ately, rising from his chair and pacing the 
 room. "It's your guilty conscience that's made 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 217 
 
 a coward of you. How dare you sell my 
 parrot ? " 
 
 "Because it wasn't truthful, Jem," said his 
 wife, who was somewhat pale. 
 
 "If you were half as truthful you'd do," 
 vociferated the engineer, standing over her. 
 "You, you deceitful woman." 
 
 Mrs. Gannett fumbled in her pocket again, 
 and producing a small handkerchief applied it 
 delicately to her eyes. 
 
 I — I got rid of it for your sake," she 
 stammered. " It used to tell such lies about 
 you. I couldn't bear to listen to it." 
 
 "About me!" said Mr. Gannett, sinking into 
 his seat and staring at his wife with very 
 natural amazement. " Tell lies about me ! 
 Nonsense! How could it?" 
 
 " I suppose it could tell me about you as 
 easily as it could tell you about me ? " said Mrs. 
 Gannett. " There was more magic in that bird 
 than you thought, Jem. It used to say shocking 
 things about you. I couldn't bear it." 
 
 "Do you think you're talking to a child or 
 a fool?" demanded the engineer. 
 
 Mrs. Gannett shook her head feebly. She 
 still kept the handkerchief to her eyes, but 
 allowed a portion to drop over her mouth. 
 
 " I should like to hear some of the stories it told 
 
2i8 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 about me — if you can remember them," said the 
 engineer with bitter sarcasm. 
 
 " The first lie," said Mrs. Gannett in a feeble 
 but ready voice, " was about the time you 
 were at Genoa. The parrot said you were at 
 some concert gardens at the upper end of the 
 town.'' 
 
 One moist eye coming mildly from behind the 
 handkerchief saw the engineer stiffen suddenly in 
 his chair. 
 
 " I don't suppose there even is such a place," she 
 continued. 
 
 " I — b'leve — there — is," said her husband jerkily. 
 " I 've heard — our chaps— talk of it." 
 
 " But you haven't been there ? " said his wife 
 anxiously. 
 
 "Never !" said the engineer with extraordinary 
 vehemence. 
 
 " That wicked bird said that you got intoxicated 
 there," said Mrs. Gannett in solemn accents, " that 
 you smashed a little marble-topped table and 
 knocked down two waiters, and that if it hadn't 
 been for the captain of the Pursuit, who was in 
 there and who got you away, you 'd have been 
 locked up. Wasn't it a wicked bird ? " 
 
 " Horrible ! " said the engineer huskily. 
 
 " I don't suppose there ever was a ship called 
 the Pursuit" continued Mrs. Gannett, 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 219 
 
 " Doesn't sound like a ship's name," murmured 
 Mr. Gannett. 
 
 " Well, then, a few days later it said the Curlew 
 was at Naples." 
 
 " I never went ashore all the time we were at 
 Naples," remarked the engineer casually. 
 
 " The parrot said you did," said Mrs. Gannett. 
 
 " I suppose you '11 believe your own lawful 
 husband before that damned bird?" shouted 
 Gannett, starting up. 
 
 "Of course I didn't believe it, Jem," said 
 his wife. " I 'm trying to prove to you that 
 the bird was not truthful, but you 're s6 hard to 
 persuade." 
 
 Mr. Gannett took a pipe from his pocket, and 
 with a small knife dug with much severity and 
 determination a hardened plug from the bowl, 
 and blew noisily through the stem. 
 
 " There was a girl kept a fruit-stall just by the 
 harbour," said Mrs. Gannett, " and on this evening, 
 on the strength of having bought three-penny- 
 worth of green figs, you put your arm round her 
 waist and tried to kiss her, and her sweetheart, 
 who was standing close by, tried to stab you. The 
 parrot said that you were in such a state of terror 
 that you jumped into the harbour and were nearly 
 drowned." 
 
 Mr. Gannett having loaded his pipe lit it slowly 
 
220 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 and carefully, and with tidy precision got up and 
 deposited the match in the fireplace. 
 
 " It used to frighten me so with its stories that 
 I hardly knew what to do with myself," continued 
 Mrs. Gannett. " When you were at Suez " 
 
 The engineer waved his hand imperiously. 
 
 " That 's enough," he said stiffly. 
 
 " I 'm sure I don't want to have to repeat 
 what it told me about Suez," said his wife. " I 
 thought you'd like to hear it, that's all." 
 
 " Not at all," said the engineer, puffing at his 
 pipe. " Not at all." 
 
 " But you see why I got rid of the bird, don't 
 you?" said Mrs. Gannett. "If it had told you 
 untruths about me, you would have believed 
 them, wouldn't you ? " 
 
 Mr. Gannett took his pipe from his mouth 
 and took his wife in his extended arms. " No, 
 my dear," he .said brokenly, " no more than you 
 believe all this stuff about me." 
 
 " And I did quite right to sell it, didn't I, 
 Jem?" 
 
 " Quite right," said Mr. Gannett with a great 
 assumption of heartiness. "Best thing to do 
 with it." 
 
 "You haven't heard the worst yet," said Mrs. 
 Gannett. " When you were at Suez " 
 
 Mr. Gannett consigned Suez to its only rival, 
 
THE GREY PARROT. 221 
 
 and thumping the table with his clenched fist, 
 forbade his wife to mention the word again, 
 and desired her to prepare supper. 
 
 Not until he heard his wife moving about 
 in the kitchen below did he relax the severity 
 of his countenance. Then his expression changed 
 to one of extreme anxiety, and he restlessly paced 
 the room seeking for light. It came suddenly. 
 
 "Jenkins," he gasped, "Jenkins and Mrs. Cluf- 
 fins, and I was going to tell Cluffins about him 
 writing to his wife. I expect he knows the 
 letter by heart." 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS 
 
 " '" I "AIN'T no use waiting any longer," said 
 -L Harry Pilchard, looking over the side of 
 the brig towards the Tower stairs. " 'E 's either 
 waiting for the money or else 'e 's a-spending of it. 
 Who 's coming ashore .' " 
 
 " Give 'im another five minutes, Harry," said 
 another seaman persuasively; " it 'ud be uncommon 
 'ard on 'im if 'e come aboard and then 'ad to go 
 an' get another ship's crew to 'elp 'im celebrate it." 
 
 " 'Ard on us too," said the cook honestly. "There 
 he is ! " 
 
 The other glanced up at a figure waving to 
 them from the stairs. " 'E wants the boat," he 
 said, moving aft. 
 
 " No 'e don't, Steve," piped the boy. " 'E 's 
 waving you not to. He's coming in the water- 
 man's skiff." 
 
 " Ha ! same old tale," said the seaman wisely. 
 " Chap comes in for a bit o' money and begins 
 to waste it directly. There 's threepence gone ; 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS. 223 
 
 clean chucked away. Look at 'im. Just look at 
 him ! " 
 
 '"E's got the money all right," said the cook, 
 "there's no doubt about that. Why, 'e looks 'arf 
 as large again as 'e did this morning." 
 
 The crew bent over the side as the skiff ap- 
 proached, and the fare, who had been leaning back 
 in the stern with a severely important air, rose 
 slowly and felt in his trousers-pocket 
 
 "There's sixpence for you, my lad," he said 
 pompously. " Never mind about the change." 
 
 "All right, old slack-breeches," said the water- 
 man with effusive good-fellowship ; " up you 
 get." 
 
 Three pairs of hands assisted the offended fare 
 on board, and the boy hovering round him slapped 
 his legs vigorously. 
 
 " Wot are you up to ? " demanded Mr. Samuel 
 Dodds, A.B., turning on him. 
 
 "On'y dusting you down, Sam," said the boy 
 humbly. 
 
 " You got the money all right, I s'pose, Sammy V 
 said Steve Martin. 
 
 Mr. Dodds nodded and slapped his breast- 
 pocket. 
 
 " Right as ninepence," he replied genially. "I 've 
 been with my lawyer all the arternoon, pretty 
 near. 'E's a nice feller. 
 
224 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " 'Ow much is it, Sam ? " inquired Pilchard 
 eagerly. 
 
 " One 'undred and seventy-three pun seventeen 
 shillings an' ten pence" said the heir, noticing 
 with much pleasure the effect of his announce- 
 ment. 
 
 " Say it agin, Sam," said Pilchard in awed 
 tones. 
 
 Mr. Dodds, with a happy laugh, obliged him. 
 "If you'll all come down the foc'sle," he con- 
 tinued, " I 've got a bundle o' cigars an' a drop 
 o' something short in my pocket." 
 
 " Let 's 'ave a look at the money, Sam," said 
 Pilchard when the cigars were alight. 
 
 "Ah, let's 'ave a look at it," said Steve. 
 
 Mr. Dodds laughed again, and, producing a 
 small canvas bag from his pocket, dusted the 
 table with his big palm, and spread out a roll 
 of bank-notes and a little pile of gold and silver. 
 It was an impressive sight, and the cook breathed 
 so hard that one note fluttered off the table. 
 Three men dived to recover it, while Sam, alive 
 for the first time to the responsibilities of wealth, 
 anxiously watched the remainder of his capital. 
 
 " There 's something for you to buy sweets with, 
 my lad," he said, restored to good-humour as the 
 note was replaced. 
 
 He passed over a small coin, and regarded with 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS. 225 
 
 tolerant good-humour the extravagant manifesta- 
 tion of joy on the part of the youth which 
 followed. He capered joyously for a minute or 
 two, and then taking it to the foot of the steps, 
 where the light was better, bit it ecstatically. 
 
 " How much is it ? " inquired the wondering 
 Steve. "You do chuck your money about, Sam." 
 
 " On'y sixpence," said Sam, laughing. " I expect 
 if it 'ad been a shillin' it 'ud ha' turned his brain." 
 
 " It ain't a sixpence," said the boy indignantly. 
 " It 's 'arf a suvrin'." 
 
 " 'Arf a wot ? " exclaimed Mr. Dodds with a 
 sudden change of manner. 
 
 " 'Arf a suvrin'," repeated the boy with nervous 
 rapidity ; "and thank you very much, Sam, for your 
 generosity. If everybody was like you we should 
 all be the better for it. The world 'ud be a 
 different place to live in," concluded the youthful 
 philosopher. 
 
 Mr. Dodd's face under these fulsome praises 
 was a study in conflicting emotions. " Well, don't 
 waste it," he said at length, and hastily gathering 
 up the remainder stowed it in the bag. 
 
 " What are you going to do with it all, Sam ? " 
 inquired Harry. 
 
 " I ain't made up my mind yet," said Mr. Dodds 
 deliberately. " I 'ave thought of 'ouse property." 
 
 " I don't mean that," said the other. " I mean, 
 Q 
 
226 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 wot are you going to do with it now, to take care 
 of it?" 
 
 " Why, keep it in my pocket," said Sam, staring. 
 
 " Well, if I was you," said Harry impressively, 
 " I should ask the skipper to take care of it for me. 
 You know wot you are when you 're a bit on, 
 Sam." 
 
 " Wot d' yer mean ? " demanded Mr. Dodds 
 hotly. 
 
 " I mean," said Harry hastily, " that you 've got 
 sich a generous nature that when you 've 'ad a 
 glass or two you 're just as likely as not to give 
 it away to somebody." 
 
 " I know what I 'm about," said Mr. Dodds with 
 conviction. " I 'm not goin' to get on while I 've 
 got this about me. I 'm just goin' round to the 
 ' Bull's Head,' but I shan't drink anything to 
 speak of myself Anybody that likes to come 
 t' ave anything at my expense is welcome.'' 
 
 A flattering murmur, which was music to Mr. 
 Dodds' ear, arose from his shipmates as they went 
 on deck and hauled the boat alongside. The 
 boy was first in her, and pulling out his pocket- 
 handkerchief ostentatiously wiped down a seat for 
 Mr. Dodds. 
 
 " Understand," said that gentleman, with whom 
 the affair of the half-sovereign still rankled, "your 
 drink is shandygaff." 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS. 227 
 
 They returned to the brig at eleven o'clock, Mr. 
 Dodds slumbering peacefully in the stern of the 
 boat, propped up on either side by Steve and 
 the boy. 
 
 His sleep was so profound that he declined to 
 be aroused, and was hoisted over the side with 
 infinite difficulty and no little risk by his ship- 
 mates. 
 
 " Look at 'im," said Harry, as they lowered him 
 down the forecastle. "What 'ud ha' become of 
 'im if we hadn't been with 'im ? Where would 'is 
 money ha' been ? " 
 
 " He '11 lose it as sure as eggs is heggs," said 
 Steve, regarding him intently. " Bear a hand to 
 lift 'im in his bunk, Harry." 
 
 Harry complied, their task being rendered 
 somewhat difficult by a slight return of conscious- 
 ness in Mr. Dodds' lower limbs, which, spreading 
 themselves out fanwise, defied all attempts to pack 
 them in the bunk. 
 
 " Let 'em hang out then," said Harry savagely, 
 wiping a little mud from his face. "Fancy that 
 coming in for a fortin." 
 
 "'E won't 'ave it long," said the cook, shaking 
 his head. 
 
 " Wot 'e wants is a shock," said Harry. " 'Ow 'd 
 it be when he wakes up to tell 'im he 's lost all 
 'is money?" 
 
228 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 "Wot's the good o' telling 'im," demanded the 
 cook, '' when 'e 's got it in his pocket ? " 
 
 " Well, let 's take it out," said Pilchard. " I '11 
 hide it under my piller, and let him think he 's 
 'ad his pocket picked." 
 
 " I won't 'ave nothing to do with it," said Steve 
 peremptorily. " I don't believe in sich games." 
 
 " Wot do you think, cook ? " inquired Harry. 
 
 " I don't see no 'arm in it," said the cook slowly ; 
 " the fright might do 'im good, p'raps." 
 
 " It might be the saving of 'im," said Harry. 
 He leaned over the sleeping seaman, and, gently 
 inserting his fingers in his breast-pocket, drew out 
 the canvas bag. " There it is, chaps," he said 
 gaily ; " an' I '11 give 'im sich a fright in the 
 morning as he won't forget in a 'urry." 
 
 He retired to his bunk, and placing the bag 
 under his pillow, was soon fast asleep. The other 
 men followed his example, and Steve extinguish- 
 ing the lamp, the forecastle surrendered itself to 
 sleep. 
 
 At five o'clock they were awakened by the 
 voice of Mr. Dodds. It was a broken, discon- 
 nected sort of voice at first, like to that of a man 
 talking in his sleep ; but as Mr. Dodds' head 
 cleared his ideas cleared with it, and in strong, 
 forcible language straight from the heart he con- 
 signed the eyes and limbsi^pf some person or 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS. 229 
 
 persons unknown to every variety of torment; 
 after which, in a voice broken with emotion, he 
 addressed himself in terms of heart-breaking 
 sympathy. 
 
 " Shut up, Sam," said Harry in a sleepy voice. 
 " Why can't you go to sleep ? " 
 
 " Sleep be 'anged," said Mr. Dodds tearfully. 
 " I 've lorst all my money.'' 
 
 " You 're dreamin'," said Harry lightly ; " pinch 
 yourself" 
 
 Mr. Dodds, who had a little breath left and a 
 few words still comparatively fresh, bestowed 
 them upon him. 
 
 " I tell you you haven't lorst it," said Harry. 
 "Don't you remember giving it to that red-'aired 
 woman with a baby ? " 
 
 " Wot ? " said the astounded Mr. Dodds. 
 
 " You give it to 'er an' told 'er to buy the baby 
 a bun with it," continued the veracious Mr. 
 Pilchard. 
 
 "Told 'er to buy the baby a bun with it?" 
 repeated Mr. Dodds in a dazed voice. "Told 
 
 'er to Wot did you let me do it for? Wot 
 
 was all you chaps standin' by an' doin' to let me 
 go an' do it for ? " 
 
 "We did arsk you not to," said Steve, joining 
 in the conversation. 
 
 Mr. Dodds finding language utterly useless to 
 
230 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 express his burning thoughts, sat down and madly 
 smashed at the table with his fists. 
 
 " Wot was you a-doin' to let me do it ? " he 
 demanded at length of the boy. "You ungrateful 
 little toad. You can give me that 'arf-suvrin back, 
 d'ye hear?" 
 
 " I can't," said the boy. " I followed your 
 example, and give it to the red-'aired woman to 
 buy the baby another bun with." 
 
 There was a buzzing noise in Mr. Dodds' head, 
 and the bunks and their grinning occupants went 
 round and round. 
 
 " 'Ere, 'old up, Sam," said Pilchard, shaking him 
 in alarm. " It 's all right ; don't be a fool. I 've 
 got the money." 
 
 Sam stared at him blankly. 
 
 " I 've got the money," repeated the seaman. 
 
 Mr. Dodds' colour came back. 
 
 " How 'd you get it ? " he inquired. 
 
 "I took it out of your pocket last night just to 
 give you a lesson," said Harry severely. " Don't 
 you never be so silly agin, Sam." 
 
 " Gimme my money,'' said Mr. Dodds, glaring 
 at him. 
 
 "You might ha' lorst it, you see, Sam," con- 
 tinued his benefactor ; "if T could take it, 
 anybody else could. Let this be a lesson to 
 you." 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS. 231 
 
 " If you don't gimme my money " began 
 
 Sam violently. 
 
 "It's no good trying to do 'im a kindness," 
 said Harry to the others as he turned to his 
 bunk. " He can go an' lose it for all I care." 
 
 He put his hand in his bunk, and then with 
 a sudden exclamation searched somewhat hastily 
 amongst the bedding. Mr. Dodds, watching him 
 with a scowl, saw him take every article separately 
 out of his bunk, and then sink down appalled on 
 the locker. 
 
 "You've took it, Sam — ain't — you?" he 
 gasped. 
 
 '' Look 'ere," said Mr. Dodds, with ominous 
 quietness, " when you 've done your little 
 game." 
 
 "It's gone," said Harry in a scared voice; 
 "somebody's taken it." 
 
 "Look 'ere, 'Arry, give 'im his money," said 
 Steve impatiently ; " a joke 's a joke, but we don't 
 want too much of it." 
 
 " I ain't got it," said Harry, trembling. " Sure 
 as I stand 'ere it's gone. I took it out of your 
 pocket, and put it under my piller. You saw me, 
 didn't you, Steve ? " 
 
 " Yes, and I told you not to," said Steve. " Let 
 this be a warning to you not to try and teach 
 lessons to people wot don't want 'em." 
 
232 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 " I 'm going to the police-station to give 'im 
 in charge," said Mr. Dodds fiercely; "that's wot 
 I 'm goin' to do." 
 
 " For the Lord's sake don't do that, Sam," said 
 Pilchard, clutching him by the coat. 
 
 "'Arry ain't made away with it, Sam," said 
 Steve. " I saw somebody take it out of his bunk 
 while he was asleep." 
 
 " Why didn't you stop him ? " cried Harry, 
 starting up. 
 
 " I didn't like to interfere," said Steve simply ; 
 " but I saw where he went to." 
 
 "Where?" demanded Mr. Dodds wildly. 
 "Where?" 
 
 " He went straight up on deck," said Steve 
 slowly, "walked aft, and then down into the 
 cabin. The skipper woke up, and I heard 'im 
 say something to him." 
 
 " Say something to 'im ? " repeated the be- 
 wildered Dodds. " Wot was it ? " 
 
 " Well, I 'ardly like to repeat it," said Steve, 
 hesitating. 
 
 "Wot was it?" roared the overwrought Mr. 
 Dodds. 
 
 "Well, I 'eard this chap say something," said 
 Steve slowly, " and then I heard the skipper's 
 voice. But I don't like to repeat wot 'e said, 
 I reely don't." 
 
MONEY-CHANGERS. 233 
 
 " Wot was it ? " roared Mr. Dodds, approaching 
 him with clenched fist. 
 
 " Well, if you will have it," said Steve, with 
 a little cough, " the old man said to me, ' Well 
 done, Steve,' he ses, 'you're the only sensible 
 man of the whole bilin' lot. Sam 's a fool,' 'e 
 ses, 'and 'Arry's worse, an' if it wasn't for men 
 like you, Steve, life wouldn't be worth living.' 
 The skipper 's got it now, Sam, and 'e 's goin' to 
 give it to your wife to take care of as soon as 
 we get home.'' 
 
THE LOST SHIP 
 
 ON a fine spring morning in the early part of 
 the present century, Tetby, a small port on 
 the east coast, was keeping high holiday. Trades- 
 men left their shops, and labourers their work, 
 and flocked down to join the maritime element 
 collected on the quay. 
 
 In the usual way Tetby was a quiet, dull little 
 place, clustering in a tiny heap of town on one 
 side of the river, and perching in scattered red- 
 tiled cottages on the cliffs of the other. 
 
 Now, however, people were grouped upon the 
 stone quay, with its litter of fish-baskets and coils 
 of rope, waiting expectantly, for to-day the largest 
 ship ever built in Tetby, by Tetby hands, was to 
 start upon her first voyage. 
 
 As they waited, discussing past Tetby ships, 
 their builders, their voyages, and their fate, a small 
 piece of white sail showed on the noble barque 
 from her moorings up the river. The groups on 
 the quay grew animated as more sail was set, and 
 234 
 
THE LOST SHIP. 235 
 
 in a slow and stately fashion the new ship drew 
 near. As the light breeze took her sails she came 
 faster, sitting the water like a duck, her lofty masts 
 tapering away to the sky as they broke through 
 the white clouds of canvas. She passed within 
 ten fathoms of the quay, and the men cheered and 
 the women held their children up to wave farewell, 
 for she was manned from captain to cabin boy by 
 Tetby men, and bound for the distant southern 
 seas. 
 
 Outside the harbour she altered her course some- 
 what and bent, like a thing of life, to the wind 
 blowing outside. The crew sprang into the rigging 
 and waved their caps, and kissed their grimy hands 
 to receding Tetby. They were answered by 
 rousing cheers from the shore, hoarse and mas- 
 culine, to drown the lachrymose attempts of the 
 women. 
 
 They watched her until their eyes were dim, and 
 she was a mere white triangular speck on the 
 horizon. Then, like a melting snowflake, she 
 vanished into air, and the Tetby folk, some 
 envying the bold mariners, and others thankful 
 that their lives were cast upon the safe and 
 pleasant shore, slowly dispersed to their homes. 
 
 Months passed, and the quiet routine of Tetby 
 went on undisturbed. Other craft came into 
 port and, discharging and loading in an easy, 
 
236 ' SEA URCHINS. 
 
 comfortable fashion, sailed again. The keel of 
 another ship was being laid in the shipyard, and 
 slowly the time came round when the return of 
 Tetby's Pride, for so she was named, might be 
 reasonably looked for. 
 
 It was feared that she might arrive in the night — 
 the cold and cheerless night, when wife and child 
 were abed, and even if roused to go down on to the 
 quay would see no more of her than her sidelights 
 staining the water, and her dark form stealing 
 cautiously up the river. They would have her 
 come by day. To see her first on that horizon, 
 into which she had dipped and vanished. To see 
 her come closer and closer, the good stout ship 
 seasoned by southern seas and southern suns, with 
 the crew crowding the sides to gaze at Tetby, and 
 see how the children had grown. 
 
 But she came not. Day after day the watchers 
 waited for her in vain. It was whispered at length 
 that she was overdue, and later on, but only by 
 those who had neither kith nor kin aboard of her, 
 that she was missing. 
 
 Long after all hope had gone wives and mothers, 
 after the manner of their kind, watched and waited 
 on the cheerless quay. One by one they stayed 
 away, and forgot the dead to attend to the living. 
 Babes grew into sturdy, ruddy-faced boys and 
 girls, boys and girls into young men and women, 
 
THE LOST SHIP. 237 
 
 but no news of the missing ship, no word from the 
 missing men. Slowly year succeeded year, and 
 the lost ship became a legend. The man who had 
 built her was old and grey, and time had smoothed 
 away the sorrows of the bereaved. 
 
 It was on a dark, blustering September night 
 that an old woman sat by her fire knitting. The 
 fire was low, for it was more for the sake of 
 company than warmth, and it formed an agreeable 
 contrast to the wind which whistled round the 
 house, bearing on its wings the sound of the waves 
 as they came crashing ashore. 
 
 " God help those at sea to-night," said the old 
 woman devoutly, as a stronger gust than usual 
 shook the house. 
 
 She put her knitting in her lap and clasped her 
 hands, and at that moment the cottage door opened. 
 The lamp flared and smoked up the chimney with 
 the draught, and then went out. As the old woman 
 rose from her seat the door closed. 
 
 " Who 's there ? " she cried nervously. 
 
 Her eyes were dim and the darkness sudden, 
 but she fancied she saw something standing by 
 the door, and snatching a spill from the mantel- 
 piece she thrust it into the fire, and relit the 
 lamp. 
 
 A man stood on the threshold, a man of 
 middle age, with white drawn face and scrubby 
 
238 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 beard. His clothes were in rags, his hair un- 
 kempt, and his Hght grey eyes sunken and 
 tired. 
 
 The old woman looked at him, and waited 
 for him to speak. When he did so he took a 
 step towards her, and said — 
 
 " Mother ! " 
 
 With a great cry she threw herself upon his 
 neck and strained him to her withered bosom, 
 and kissed him. She could not believe her 
 eyes, her senses, but clasped him convulsively, 
 and bade him speak again, and wept, and 
 thanked God, and laughed all in a breath. 
 
 Then she remembered herself, and led him 
 tottering to the old Windsor chair, thrust him 
 in, it, and quivering with excitement took food 
 and drink from the cupboard and placed before 
 him. He ate hungrily, the old woman watching 
 him, and standing by his side to keep his glass 
 filled with the home-brewed beer. At times he 
 would have spoken, but she motioned him to 
 silence and bade him eat, the tears coursing 
 down her aged cheeks as she looked at his 
 white famished face. 
 
 At length he laid down his knife and fork, 
 and drinking off the ale, intimated that he 
 had finished. 
 
 " My boy, my boy," said the old woman in 
 
THE LOST SHIP. 239 
 
 a broken voice, " I thought you had gone down 
 with Tetby's Pride long years ago." 
 
 He shook his head heavily. 
 
 "The captain and crew, and the good ship," 
 asked his mother. "Where are they?" 
 
 " Captain — and — crew," said the son, in a 
 strange hesitating fashion ; " it is a long story 
 ■ — the ale has made me heavy. They are " 
 
 He left off abruptly and closed his eyes. 
 
 " Where are they ? " asked his mother. " What 
 happened ? " 
 
 He opened his eyes slowly. 
 
 "I — am — tired — dead tired. I have not — 
 slept. I'll tell — you — morning." 
 
 He nodded again, and the old woman shook 
 him gently. 
 
 "Go to bed then. Your old bed, Jem. It's 
 as you left it, and it's made and the sheets 
 aired. It's been ready for you ever since." 
 
 He rose to his feet, and stood swaying to 
 and fro. His mother opened a door in the 
 wall, and taking the lamp lighted him up the 
 steep wooden staircase to the room he knew 
 so well. Then he took her in his arms in a 
 feeble hug, and kissing her on the forehead 
 sat down wearily on the bed. 
 
 The old woman returned to her kitchen, and 
 falling upon her knees remained for some time 
 
240 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 in a state of grateful, pious ecstasy. When she 
 arose she thought of those other women, and, 
 snatching a shawl from its peg behind the door, 
 ran up the deserted street with her tidings. 
 
 In a very short time the town was astir. 
 Like a breath of hope the whisper flew from 
 house to house. Doors closed for the night 
 were thrown open, and wondering children 
 questioned their weeping mothers. Blurred 
 images of husbands and fathers long since 
 given over for dead stood out clear and 
 distinct, smiling with bright faces upon their 
 dear ones. 
 
 At the cottage door two or three people 
 had already collected, and others were coming 
 up the street in an unwonted bustle. 
 
 They found their way barred by an old 
 woman. — a resolute old woman, her face still 
 working with the great joy which had come 
 into her old life, but who refused them admit- 
 tance until her son had slept. Their thirst for 
 news was uncontrollable, but with a swelling 
 in her throat she realized that her share in 
 Tetby's Pride was safe. 
 
 Women who had waited, and got patient at 
 last after years of waiting, could not endure 
 these additional few hours. Despair was en- 
 durable, but suspense ! " Ah, God 1 Was their 
 
THE LOST SHIP. 241 
 
 man alive? What did he look like? Had he 
 aged much ? " 
 
 " He was so fatigued he could scarce speak," 
 said she. She had questioned him, but he was 
 unable to reply. Give him but till the dawn, 
 and they should know all. 
 
 So they waited, for to go home and sleep 
 was impossible. Occasionally they moved a 
 little way up the street, but never very far, 
 and gathering in small knots excitedly discussed 
 the great event. It came to be understood that 
 the rest of the crew had been cast av/ay on an 
 uninhabited island, it could be nothing else, 
 and would doubtlessly soon be with them ; all 
 except one or two perhaps, who were old men 
 when the ship sailed, and had probably died 
 in the meantime. One said this in the hearing 
 of an old woman whose husband, if alive, would 
 be in extreme old age, but she smiled peacefully, 
 albeit her lip trembled, and said she only expected 
 to hear of him, that was all. 
 
 The suspense became almost unendurable. 
 "Would this man never awake? Would it never 
 be dawn ? " The children were chilled with the 
 wind, but their elders would scarcely have felt 
 an Arctic frost. With growing impatience they 
 waited, glancing at times at two women who 
 held themselves somewhat aloof from the others ; 
 
 R 
 
242 SEA URCHINS. 
 
 two women who had married again, and whose 
 second husbands waited, awkwardly enough, with 
 them. 
 
 Slowly the weary windy night wore away, the 
 old woman, deaf to their appeals, still keeping 
 her door fast. The dawn was not yet, though 
 the oft-consulted watches announced it near at 
 hand. It was very close now, and the watchers 
 collected by the door. It was undeniable that 
 things were seen a little more distinctly. One 
 could see better the grey, eager faces of his 
 neighbours. 
 
 They knocked upon the door, and the old 
 woman's eyes filled as she opened it and saw 
 those faces. Unasked and unchid they invaded 
 the cottage and crowded round the door. 
 
 " I will go up and fetch him," said the old 
 woman. 
 
 If each could have heard the beating of the 
 others' hearts, the noise would have been deafen- 
 ing, but as it was there was complete silence, 
 except for some overwrought woman's sob. 
 
 The old woman opened the door leading to 
 the room above, and with the slow, deliberate 
 steps of age ascended the stairs, and those below 
 heard her calling softly to her son. 
 
 Two or three minutes passed and she was 
 heard descending the stairs again — alone. The 
 
THE LOST SHIP. 243 
 
 smile, the pity, had left her face, and she seemed 
 dazed and strange. 
 
 " I cannot wake him," she said piteously. " He 
 sleeps so sound. He is fatigued. I have shaken 
 him, but he still sleeps." 
 
 As she stopped, and looked appealingly round, 
 the other old woman took her hand, and pressing 
 it led her to a chair. Two of the men sprang 
 quickly up the stairs. They were absent but 
 a short while, and then they came down like 
 men bewildered and distraught. No need to 
 speak. A low wail of utter misery rose from 
 the women, and was caught up and repeated 
 by the crowd outside, for the only man who 
 could have set their hearts at rest had escaped 
 the perils of the deep, and died quietly in his 
 bed. 
 
PLYMOUTH 
 
 WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON 
 
 PRINTERS 
 
CorffseSi ^ntvarsity Library 
 PR4821.J2S3 
 
 Sea urchins. 
 
 3 1924 013 487 610