lifted his head to gaze up at the sky.

Lavis touched him on the arm. "How did you leave Mr. Linnell, Andie?"

Andie unfolded his arms and faced around. "Eh? Oh! How do you do, sir?
He comes to me, Mr. Lavis--an' 'twas somethin' beyond the fear o' death
was in his eyes--an' he says: 'Andie, your work's done. 'Twas her
death-blow they give her, an' she'll not live much longer now. Go above
you now, Andie,' he says, 'and I'll stay here.' 'If you don't mind, I'll
stay with you, sir,' I says. 'Don't be foolish, Andie,' he says.
'There's small reputation goes with eight pounds in the month. There's
none will be lookin' in the papers to see did you desert your post, but
there's many will be sayin' what a grand fool you was you didn't go when
you could.'

"'I know you mean that, sir, for the wharf-rats that ships an' shirks
for one voyage, and stays drunk ashore for three more,' I says. 'I've no
call to leave this ship while one passenger is aboard of her. An' more,
Mister Linnell, many an' many's the watch I've stood under you, an',
'less you forbids it, I'll stand this last watch wi' you. Only, if you
won't forbid me, sir, I'll go up on deck at the last, an' have a look at
God's own sky before she goes.'"

"And what did he say to that, Andie?"

"He said naught to that, sir, excep' to shake hands wi' me. I was that
embarrassed wi' the grup o' the hand he gave, I takes out my pipe an'
baccy from the locker where the sea wasn't yet reached to, an' I cuts
myself a pipeful an' lights up. An' he says, smilin'-like: 'Andie, is it
the same old Buccaneer brand you're smokin'?' An' I says: 'The same,
sir.' 'Well,' says he, 'I've always maintained it was the most
outrageousest-smellin' baccy ever was brought into an engine-room. An' I
won't change my opinion now, but if you will spare me a pipeful I'll
risk my health to ha' a smoke wi' you now, Andie.'

"An' while we was smokin', sir, man to man like he says: 'Andie, did
ever you get it into your head you'd like to be marryin'?' And I
answers, 'I did, sir,' an' I told him o' the Brighton lass I'd once
courted, unobtrusive-like, between voyages, goin' on two year, and I
would 'a' been most pleased to marry her, till of an evenin' we was
sittin' out by the end o' the long pier, wi' the little waves from the
Channel cooing among the pilin's where the long skelps o' sea-grass was
clingin' to 'em under the planks at our feet. She was a doctor's wife's
maid. An' I axed her, an' she sa