.

"It's all right, he's going on beautiful," said the mate.

The two wives appeared to be satisfied, and with a final adieu went off
to the railway station, turning at every few yards to wave farewells
until they were out of sight.

"If ever I have another woman aboard my ship, George," said the skipper,
"I'll run into something. Who's the old gentleman?"

He nodded in the direction of an elderly man with white side-whiskers,
who, with a black bag in his hand, was making straight for the schooner.

"Captain Bunnett?" he inquired sharply.

"That's me, sir," said the skipper.

"Your wife sent me," said the tall man briskly. "My name's Thompson--Dr.
Thompson. She says you've got a case of small-pox on board which she
wants me to see."

"We've got a doctor," said the skipper and mate together.

"So your wife said, but she wished me particularly to see the case,"
said Dr. Thompson. "It's also my duty as the medical officer of the
port."

"You've done it, George, you've done it," moaned the panic-stricken
skipper reproachfully.

"Well, anybody can make a mistake," whispered the mate' back; "an' he
can't touch us, as it _ain't_ small-pox. Let him come, and we'll lay it
on to the cook. Say he made a mistake."

"That's the ticket," said the skipper, and turned to assist the doctor
to the deck as the mate hurried below to persuade the indignant boy to
strip and go to bed.

In the midst of a breathless silence the doctor examined the patient;
then, to the surprise of all, he turned to the crew and examined them
one after the other.

"How long has this boy been ill?" he demanded.

"About four days," said the puzzled skipper.

"You see what comes of trying to hush this kind of thing up," said the
doctor sternly. "You keep the patient down here instead of having
him taken away and the ship disinfected, and now all these other poor
fellows have got it."

"_What?_" screamed the skipper, as the crew broke into profane
expressions of astonishment and self-pity. "Got what?"

"Why, the small-pox," said the doctor. "Got it in its worst form too.
Suppressed. There's not one of them got a mark on him. It's all inside."

"Well, I'm damned," said the skipper, as the crew groaned despairingly.

"What else did you expect?" inquired the doctor wrathfully. "Well, they
can't be moved now; they must all go to bed, and you and the mate must
nurse them."

"And s'pose we catch it?" said the mate feelingly.

"You must take y