ance around his ship before
leading the way below. "Better slick up a bit, though, before going to
table, Little. A piratical atmosphere's all right in its place, but I'll
feel as if I ought to pack a pistol or two if I sit down to eat with a
tough looking specimen like you."

The chief mate ate at the first table that morning, and Barry took the
opportunity to make himself familiar with some general details of the
ship's company. The brigantine was a relic of an ancient period of
shipbuilding, and her main cabin fitted her excellently. Dark, full of
deep recesses in which great square windows opened to the ocean's free
breezes; cosy with an old-world cosiness; picturesque with spacious
skylight dome, in which swung a mahogany rack full of tinkling glasses
and ruby and amber decanters; full of weird, whispering voices of aged
bulkheads and cheeping frames. Such was the cabin. And the chief mate
fitted the cabin as that apartment fitted the ship.

Square as one of the stern ports, his face tanned and grained to the
semblance of a piece of the skylight mahogany; honest as the timber that
went into the building of the ship, Jerry Rolfe attempted no bluff,
either in his table manners or his professional duties. As he ate, his
shoulders swung to the heave of his arms, attacking the food on his
plate as an enemy to be downed catch-as-catch-can style, no holds
barred. Little stared in amazement at first. He shot a quizzical glance
at Barry when the mate absorbed a cupful of scalding coffee with one
gurgling, sucking swallow. But Barry expected only sailorly qualities
and loyalty from his officers; on the first count he was satisfied with
Rolfe, and his doubts were few on the second. He inquired now about the
other member of the afterguard,--the burly Hollander who had
superintended the washing-down.

"Hendrik Vandersee 's his name; bo'sun, acting second mate's his
rating," replied the mate in a plain, official tone. "Dunno anything
about him, sir, only that Mr. Houten sent him aboard and said he's been
highly recommended by somebody as knowing more about the place we're
bound for than any other man in the East."

"Well, what d' you think of him? Good second mate, eh?"

"Oh, Barry," Little broke in exuberantly, "he's the jolliest fat sailor
that ever swabbed a deck. Why, he told me I was a whale of a shellback,
and he's going to teach me...."

"This is business, Little," Barry interrupted, with a trace of
irritation. "Co