his state of mind was the worst of all. He was
so ungrateful that the mate at length lost his temper and when dinner
was served allowed a latent sense ot humour to have full play.

It consisted of boiled beef, with duff, carrots, and potatoes, and its
grateful incense filled the cabin.

The mate attacked it lustily listening between mouthfuls for any
interruption from the state-room. At length, unable to endure it any
longer, the prisoner ventured to scratch lightly on the door.

"Hist!" said the mate, in a whisper.

The scratching ceased, and the mate, grinning broadly, resumed his
dinner. He finished at last, and lighting his pipe sat back easily in
the locker watching the door out of the corner of his eye.

With hunger at his vitals the unfortunate skipper, hardly able to
believe his ears, heard the cook come down and clear away. The smell of
dinner gave way to that of tobacco, and the mate, having half finished
his pipe, approached the door.

"Are you there?" he asked, in a whisper.

"Of course I am, you fool!" said the skipper, wrathfully; "where's my
dinner?"

"I'm very sorry," began the mate, in a whisper.

"What?" enquired the skipper, fiercely.

"I've mislaid the key," said the mate, grinning fiendishly, "an', what's
more, I can't think what I've done with it."

At this intelligence, the remnants of the skipper's temper vanished, and
every bad word he had heard of, or read of, or dreamt of, floated from
his hungry lips in frenzied whispers.

"I can't hear what you say," said the mate. "What?"

The prisoner was about to repeat his remarks with a few embellishments,
when the mate stopped him with one little word. "Hist!" he said,
quietly.

At the imminent risk of bursting, or going mad, the skipper stopped
short, and the mate, addressing a remark to the cook, who was not
present, went up on deck.

He found the key by tea-time, and, his triumph having made him generous,
passed the skipper in a large hunk of the cold beef with his tea. The
skipper took it and eyed him wanly, having found an empty stomach very
conducive to accurate thinking.

"The next thing is to slip ashore at Wapping, Jack," he said, after he
had finished his meal; "the whar'll be closed by the time we get there."

"The watchman's nearly sure to be asleep," said Fraser, "and you can
easily climb the gate. If he's not, I must try and get him out of the
way somehow."

The skipper's forebodings proved to be correct. It was pas