that ran into the hazy east astern. The waves rolled up in
crested phalanxes that gleamed green and incandescent white ahead. The
_Scarrowmania_ plunged through them with a spray cloud flying about her
dipping bows. She was a small, old-fashioned boat, and because she
carried 3,000 tons of railway iron she rolled distressfully. Her tall
spars swayed athwart the vivid blueness of the morning sky with the
rhythmic regularity of a pendulum. The girl was not troubled by any
sense of sea-sickness. The keen north-wester that sang amid the shrouds
was wonderfully fresh; and, when she met Wyllard crossing the saloon
deck, her cheeks were glowing from the sting of the spray, and her eyes
were bright.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"Down there," answered Wyllard, pointing to the black opening in the
fore-hatch that led to the steerage quarters. "An acquaintance of mine
who's traveling forward asked me to take a look round, and I'm rather
glad I did. When I've had a word with the chief steward I'm going back
again."

"You have a friend down there?"

"I met the man for the first time yesterday, and rather took to him. One
of your naval petty officers, forcibly retired. He can't live upon his
pension, that is why he's going out to Canada. Now you'll excuse me."

"I wonder," ventured Agatha, "if you would let me go back with you?"

Wyllard looked at her curiously. "Well," he said, with an air of
reflection, "you'll probably have to face a good deal that you don't
like out yonder, and in one way you won't suffer from a little
preparatory training. This, however, is not a case where sentimental
pity is likely to relieve anybody. It's the real thing."

"I think I told you at Garside Scar that I haven't lived altogether in
luxury!" she replied.

Wyllard, who made no comment, disappeared, and merely signed to her when
he came back. They reached the ladder that led down into the gloom
beneath the hatch, and Agatha hesitated when a sour and musty odor
floated up to her. She went down, however, and a few moments later
stood, half-nauseated, gazing at the wildest scene of confusion her eyes
had ever rested on. A little light came down the hatchway, and a smoky
lamp or two swung above her head, but half the steerage deck was wrapped
in shadow, and out of it there rose a many-voiced complaining. Flimsy,
unplaned fittings had wrenched away, and men lay inert amid the
wreckage, with the remains of their last meal scattered about the