I'm going to have a look, anyway. No doubt there are some
dirty clothes to take home. I suppose you didn't wash them."

Mrs. Tobin made her way to the cabin, and down the narrow stairway,
closely followed by the captain and Eben.

"It smells close here, Sam'l," she commented, as she stood in the
centre of the room and looked critically around. "You should have more
ventilation. It isn't healthy. I have often----"

She paused abruptly as her eyes rested upon a narrow shelf on which a
little clock was steadily ticking. Stepping quickly forward, she
reached out her right hand, seized something and held it forth. It was
a woman's innocent side-comb, but to the captain and his son it
appeared more terrible than the most dangerous bomb. They stared as if
they had never beheld such a thing before. Mrs. Tobin watched them as
she gripped the comb in her hand. Her eyes blazed with anger as she
glowered upon the two abashed ones before her. The captain clutched
his handkerchief and mopped his hot brow. Then he looked helplessly
around. He longed to escape, to flee anywhere from his wife's accusing
eyes.

"Where did this come from?" The words fell slowly from Mrs. Tobin's
lips, and to the two culprits they sounded like the knell of doom. She
waited for some response, but none came. "Is it possible that you have
had a woman in this cabin," she continued. "Can you deny it, Sam'l
Tobin?"

The captain clawed nervously at the back of his head with the fingers
of his right hand, and then glanced up the stairway. The gleam of
triumph shone in his wife's eyes as she noted his embarrassment.

"You can't deny it, Sam'l," she charged, at the same time pointing an
accusing finger straight at his face, "I can read you like a book.
You've had a woman on board, and this is her comb. You can't deny it."

"It'd be no use, Martha," the captain replied. "Ye wouldn't believe me
if I did."

"No, not in the face of this," and Mrs. Tobin again held forth the comb.

"Well, then, Martha, what's the use of so much talk? I've had a hard
day, so am tired an' hungry. Guess Eben is, too."

"Tired! Hungry!" Mrs. Tobin snapped. "You'll be more tired and hungry
before I'm through with you, let me tell you that. You might as well
own up first as last about that woman you had on board. Who is the
miserable hussy, and where is she now?"

A gleam of hope suddenly appeared in the captain's eyes, and he shot a
swift glance toward