the end of the wharf.

The above narration was made much more abruptly and shortly than we have
presented it, for oars were soon heard in the water, and it behoved the
poor hunted cook to secrete himself in case they should take a fancy to
search the vessel. Just as the boat came within a few yards of the ship
he hastily went below.

"Boat ahoy!" shouted Tim Rokens; "wot boat's that?"

The men lay on their oars.

"Have you a madman on board your ship?" inquired the gatekeeper of the
hospital, whose wrath at the unceremonious treatment he had received had
not yet cooled down.

"No," answered Rokens, laying his arms on the bulwarks, and looking down
at his questioner with a sly leer; "no, we ha'n't, but you've got a
madman aboord that boat."

"Who's that?" inquired the warder, who did not at first understand the
sarcasm.

"Why, yourself, to be sure," replied Rokens, "an' the sooner you takes
yourself off, an' comes to an anchor in a loo-natick asylum, the better
for all parties consarned."

"No, but I'm in earnest, my man--"

"_As_ far as that goes," interrupted the imperturbable Rokens, "so am
I."

"The man," continued the gatekeeper, "has run out of the hospital with a
smashed head, I calc'late, stark starin' mad, and gone off the end o'
the w'arf into the water--"

"You don't mean it!" shouted Rokens, starting with affected surprise.
"Now you _are_ a fine fellow, ain't you, to be talkin' here an' wastin'
time while a poor feller-mortal is bein' drownded, or has gone and
swummed off to sea--p'r'aps without chart, compass, or rudder! Hallo,
lads! tumble up there! Man overboard! tumble up, tumble up!"

In less than three minutes half-a-dozen men sprang up the hatchway,
hauled up the gig which swung astern, tumbled into it, and began to pull
wildly about the harbour in search of the drowning man. The shouts and
commotion roused the crews of the nearest vessels, and ere long quite a
fleet of boats joined in the search.

"Wos he a big or a little feller?" inquired Rokens, panting from his
exertions, as he swept up to the boat containing the hospital warder,
round which several of the other boats began to congregate.

"A big fellow, I guess, with legs like steeples. He was sloping when
they floored him. A thief, I expect he must ha' bin."

"A thief!" echoed Rokens, in disgust; "why didn't ye say, so at first?
If he's a thief, he's born to be hanged, so he's safe and snug aboard
his ship long ago, I'