d.

"Clerk," Docks sighed, "two days ago."

"Oh, _was_ you?" the skipper asked. "Well, well!" His lower jaw
dropped. "An' would mind tellin' us," he continued, his voice now
touched with passion, "what's _come_ o' that damned craft?"

"She was lost on the Harbourless Shore, sir, with all hands--but me."

"Thank God for that!"

"Ay, thank God!"

Whereupon the doctor vaccinated Docks.

XXV

A CAPITAL CRIME

"You never set eyes on old Skipper Jim, did you, Skipper Billy?" Docks
began, later, that night. "No? Well, he was a wonderful hard man. They
says the devil was abroad the night of his bornin'; but I'm thinkin'
that Jagger o' Wayfarer's Tickle had more t' do with the life he lived
than ever the devil could manage. 'Twas Jagger that owned the _Sink or
Swim_; 'twas he that laid the courses--ay, that laid this last one, too.
Believe me, sir," now turning to Doctor Luke, who had uttered a sharp
exclamation, "for I _knowed_ Jagger, an' I _sailed_ along o' Skipper
Jim. 'Skipper Jim,' says I, when the trick we played was scurvy, 'this
here ain't right.' 'Right?' says he. 'Jagger's gone an' laid _that_ word
by an' forgot where he put it.' 'But you, Skipper Jim,' says I, '_you_;
what _you_ doin' this here for?' 'Well, Docks,' says he, 'Jagger,' says
he, 'says 'tis a clever thing t' do, an' I'm thinkin',' says he, 'that
Jagger's near right. Anyhow,' says he, 'Jagger's my owner.'"

Doctor Luke put his elbows on the forecastle table, his chin on his
hands--and thus gazed, immovable, at young Docks.

"Skipper Jim," the lad went on, "was a lank old man, with a beard that
used t' put me in mind of a dead shrub on a cliff. Old, an' tall, an'
skinny he was; an' the flesh of his face was sort o' wet an' whitish, as
if it had no feelin'. They wasn't a thing in the way o' wind or sea that
Skipper Jim was afeard of. I like a brave man so well as anybody does,
but I haven't no love for a fool; an' I've seed _him_ beat out o' safe
harbour, with all canvas set, when other schooners was reefed down an'
runnin' for shelter. Many a time I've took my trick at the wheel when
the most I hoped for was three minutes t' say my prayers.

"'Skipper, sir,' we used t' say, when 'twas lookin' black an' nasty t'
win'ard an' we was wantin' t' run for the handiest harbour, ''tis like
you'll be holdin' on for Rocky Cove. Sure, you've no call t' run for
harbour from _this here_ blow!'

"'Stand by that mainsheet there!' he'd yell. 'Let he