possible,
with the view, apparently, of tying them into a knot.

"Pull away, me hearty!" thought Flaggan, purposely making himself as
limp as possible.

The Moor did pull; and while his victim's arms were stretched across
each other to the uttermost, he suddenly fell upon them, thereby almost
forcing the shoulder-joints out of their sockets.

"Och! ye spalpeen!" shouted Ted, flinging him off as if he had been a
feather. Then, sinking back, he added, "Come on; you'll not ketch me
slaipin' again, me honey!"

The amused Moor accepted the invitation, and returned to the charge. He
punched him, baked him, boxed him, and battered him, and finally,
drenching him with ice-cold water, swathed him in a sheet, twisted a
white turban on his head, and turned him out like a piece of brand-new
furniture, highly polished, into the drying-room.

"How yoos like it?" asked Rais Ali, as they lay in the Turkish-corpse
stage of the process, calmly sipping tea.

"It's plis'nt," replied Ted, "uncommon plis'nt, but raither surprisin'."

"Ha," responded Rais.

At this point their attention was turned to the little fat Moor who had
been their fellow-bather, and to whom Ted in his undivided attention to
the thin Moor had paid little regard.

"Musha!" whispered Ted, "it's the capting of the port."

The captain of the port it was, and if that individual had known who it
was that lay cooling within a few yards of him, he would probably have
brought our nautical hero's days to a speedy termination. But although
he had seen Ted Flaggan frequently under the aspect of a British seaman,
he had never before seen him in the character of a half-boiled Moor.
Besides, having been thoroughly engrossed and lost in the enjoyment of
his own bath, he had paid no attention to those around him.

"Turn yoos face well to de wall," whispered Rais Ali. "He great hass;
hims no see yoo."

"Great `hass,' indade; he's not half such a `hass' as I am for comin' in
here," muttered the sailor, as he huddled on his Arab garments, keeping
his face carefully turned away from the captain of the port, who lay
with his eyes shut in a state of dreamy enjoyment.

In a few minutes the two friends paid for their bath, and went out.

"I feels for all the world like a bird or a balloon," said Ted, as his
companion hurried him along; "if I don't git some ballast soon in the
shape o' grub, I'll float away intirely."

Rais Ali made no reply, but turned into a baker's sho