Mate Chapin,
Boatswain Newbegin, and 'Rion Latham himself to stick by the
schooner. For, in spite of his quarreling and long tongue about a
hoodoo, Tunis thought that his cousin was a man above any real fear
of the very superstitions he talked about.

But four men could not safely work the schooner to Boston, nor in
season to keep his contract with the consignees of freight which the
_Seamew_ carried. Troubled as he had been at Boston, and delayed,
Tunis wished now that he had remained there even longer while he
made search for and engaged a proper crew for the schooner. He had
better, perhaps, have paid the fare of the Portygees back to Big
Wreck Cove and so saved quarreling with them.

When he had been about to leave the schooner the afternoon before,
the foolish fellows had sent a spokesman to him asking if he was
sure the _Seamew_ was not the old _Marlin B._, the Salem fishing
craft which had been acclaimed "the murder ship" from the Banks to
the Cape by all coasting seamen several years before. To answer this
question rasped the pride of the owner of the _Seamew_. For a seaman
to ask a question of one of the officers--a question of such a
nature--was flaunting authority in any case.

Although Captain Latham considered the question ridiculous and
utterly unworthy of a serious answer, he had replied to it.

He had told the sailor that to the best of his knowledge and belief
the old _Marlin B._ was several thousand miles away from the Cape at
that time, and that the _Seamew_ was herself and no other. In any
case, he had said he had no personal fear of sailing in the schooner
as long as he could keep a decent crew of seamen aboard her, but
that he would stand for no more foolishness from his present crew.

Tunis had spoken quite boldly. But, to tell the truth, he did not
know where or how he was to sign another crew and a cook if the
Portygees deserted the schooner. Not at Big Wreck Cove. He had heard
too many whispers about the curse upon his schooner from people of
all classes in the port. Even Joshua Jones, who was supposed to be a
pretty hard-headed merchant, had been influenced by the story 'Rion
Latham had first told about the _Seamew_. He and his father had
hesitated to give Tunis an order for another lot of freight now
waiting on the dock at Boston. They wanted to be sure that the
schooner was not going to sail from the latter port undermanned.
Whether or not the Joneses believed in the hoodoo, they did k