d aboard the _Savannah City_ to
Montreal, and then to Rio, and in Japan waters; and for three years,
until I deserted at 'Frisco, no devilry that human fiends could think
of was unknown to me. But they made a sailor of me; and full-rigged
ship or steamer I'd navigate with the best of 'em. After that, I went
aboard a brig plying between 'Frisco and Yokohama, and there I picked
up much, leaving her after two years to get across to Europe, and do
the ocean trade with the Jackson line between Southampton and Buenos
Ayres. It was in that city I met my wife. I married her in Mendoza; for
she came of rich folk, who spat on me, and was only a bit of a girl
who'd never wanted a comfort on this earth until that time, and who
starved with me then and for years. My God! my whole body burns when I
think of it--that bit of a creature who'd never known the lack of a
gratification and who was dragged down to every degradation by my
curse."

I looked at him in surprise, and he answered me instinctively.

"Yes, by my curse. Maybe you don't know what it was, for I've held it
under a bit since she died, but I was a drunkard then--a maniac when I
had the liquor on me, a devil from whom all men fled. Not that there
isn't work for any man in that country--work, and well paid--but I had
the fever on me, and--well, we sank very low. How I lived I can't tell
you; but after a couple of years of it I worked a passage to New York,
and there my son was born. When he grew up he was the very image of
you. That's why I gave you your life when you came on my ship."

The words were spoken in that gentle voice he could command sometimes,
and, as he uttered them, he took my hand and gave it a great grip. I
understood then that curious look he had given me at our first meeting;
his partisanship for me against the men; and that last great risk which
had brought the end of it all, if it had not brought death to both of
us. Somewhere down in that human well of crime and ferocity there was a
spring of purer water. I had set it free when I brought old memories to
him, and I owed it to him that amazing chance that I lived through the
frenzies of Ice-haven.

"Yes," said Black, observing my surprise, and passing me the liquor
which he compelled me to drink; "my boy was your height, and your
build, and he had your eyes. What's more, he had your grit, and there
was no cooler hand living. Not that he owed much to me, for I was mad
drunk half his life; and, when so