rews deserted wholesale, seamen
were occasionally shipped in a very irregular fashion from the ports of
the Pacific slope. At the time Black was brought into one of the
seaboard cities, the purveying of drugged and kidnaped mariners had
risen to be almost a recognized profession.

It accordingly happened that when the unfortunate Black first became
clearly conscious of anything again, he heard the gurgle of sliding
water close beside his head, and, opening his eyes, caught sight of a
smoky lamp that reeled to and fro, in very erratic fashion. Moisture
dripped from the beams above him, and there was a sickly smell which
seemed familiar. Black, who had been to sea before, decided that he
caught the aroma of bilge water. Rows of wooden shelves tenanted by
recumbent figures, became discernible, and he started with dismay to
the full recognition of the fact that he was in a vessel's forecastle.

Somebody or something was pounding upon the scuttle overhead. A black
gap opened above him, a rush of cold night wind swept down, followed by
a gruff order:

"Turn out, watch below, and help get sail upon her. Stir round before
I put a move on to you!"

Men scrambled from the wooden shelves growling as they did so. Two
lost their balance on the heaving floor, went down headlong, and lay
where they fell. When a man in long boots floundered down the ladder,
Black sat up in his bunk.

"Now there's going to be trouble. Some blame rascals have run me off
aboard a lumber ship," he said.

"Correct!" observed a man who was struggling into an oilskin jacket.
"You're blame well shanghaied like the rest of us, and as the mate's a
rustler, you've got to make the best of it."

"Hello! What's the matter with you? Not feeling spry this morning, or
is it hot water you're waiting for?" the mate said, jerking Black out
of his bunk as he spoke. "Great Columbus! What kind of a stiff do you
call yourself? Up you go!"

Black went, with all the expedition he was capable of, and, blundering
out through the scuttle, stood shivering on a slant of wet and slippery
deck. A brief survey showed him that he was on board a full-rigged
ship, timber laden, about to be cast off by a tug. There was a fresh
breeze abeam. Looking forward he could see dark figures hanging from
the high-pointed bowsprit that rose and dipped, and beyond them the
lights of a tug reeling athwart a strip of white-streaked sea.
Mountains dimly discernible towered in t