you? . . . Go on. Speak up. Can you?"

And Michael, with thumps of tail to the floor and a high sharp bark,
showed that he was in entire agreement with whatever had been propounded.

"Or say twenty quid, now. That's a fair offer. Would I? Eh! Would I?
Not on your life. What d'ye say to fifty quid? That might begin to
interest me, but a hundred quid would interest me more. Why, a hundred
quid all in beer 'd come pretty close to floatin' this old hooker. But
who in Sam Hill'd offer a hundred quid? I'd like to clap eyes on him
once, that's all, just once. D'ye want to know what for? All right.
I'll whisper it. So as I could tell him to go to hell. Sure, Killeny
Boy, just like that--oh, most polite, of course, just a kindly directin'
of his steps where he'd never suffer from frigid extremities."

Michael's love for Steward was so profound as almost to be a mad but
enduring infatuation. What the steward's regard for Michael was coming
to be was best evidenced by his conversation with Captain Duncan.

"Sure, sir, he must 've followed me on board," Daughtry finished his
unveracious recital. "An' I never knew it. Last I seen of 'm was on the
beach. Next I seen of 'm there, he was fast asleep in my bunk. Now
how'd he get there, sir? How'd he pick out my room? I leave it to you,
sir. I call it marvellous, just plain marvellous."

"With a quartermaster at the head of the gangway!" Captain Duncan
snorted. "As if I didn't know your tricks, Steward. There's nothing
marvellous about it. Just a plain case of steal. Followed you on board?
That dog never came over the side. He came through a port-hole, and he
never came through by himself. That nigger of yours, I'll wager, had a
hand in the helping. But let's have done with beating about the bush.
Give me the dog, and I'll say no more about the cat."

"Seein' you believe what you believe, then you'd be for compoundin' the
felony," Daughtry retorted, the habitual obstinate tightening of his
brows showing which way his will set. "Me, sir, I'm only a ship's
steward, an' it wouldn't mean nothin' at all bein' arrested for
dog-stealin'; but you, sir, a captain of a fine steamer, how'd it sound
for you, sir? No, sir; it'd be much wiser for me to keep the dog that
followed me aboard."

"I'll give ten pounds in the bargain," the captain proffered.

"No, it wouldn't do, it wouldn't do at all, sir, an' you a captain," the
steward continued to reiterate, rollin