'I shall have to give up the job, then, for I couldn't make plum duff to
save my life.'

'That's just what I used to say when I first went as cook aboard ship,
but I had a shot at it, and a nice mess I made of it. But when I came
home from that trip I gave another cook a shilling to teach me how to
make a few fancy things, and now I'm thought as good a cook as any in
the North Sea.'

'But you know how to make plum duff. I don't.'

'I will tell you. When I discovered how to make anything, I put the
particulars down in writing in a little book. I will lend you the book.'

The bow-legged cook put his hand in his pocket and drew out a grimy,
paper-covered note-book.

'Plum duff comes first,' he said, as he handed the book to Charlie. 'Can
you read it?'

'There are a few words which I can't quite understand,' Charlie replied,
for the cookery-book was an extraordinary work. The writing was bad, the
spelling was worse, and the abbreviations were confusing. But the cook
went right through the book with him then and there.

'Now you'll be able to cook anything,' he declared, when they had got to
the end.

'I'm not so sure of that,' Charlie answered; 'but anyhow, I shall have
some idea of how to set to work. What time to-morrow shall I have to be
aboard?'

'At six in the morning.'

'Won't the skipper discover me before we get out of the river?'

'No. He doesn't often pop his head into the galley. Anyhow, he cannot do
without a cook, and if he does see you, he won't turn you off when he
finds that I am not aboard. I will write a letter to the mate for you to
give him, and perhaps he won't say a word to the skipper about you.
Don't you worry yourself, you will be all right.'

Charlie slept that night at the Fishermen's Home. He had a clean and
comfortable bed for ninepence, and a good breakfast for a few coppers.
The bow-legged cook met him in the morning outside the Home, and gave
him a letter to the mate.

'It took me two hours to write,' he declared, 'and when I finished it I
didn't think it was worth while going to sleep. But that doesn't matter;
I shall get plenty of sleep during the next few weeks. I'm going to live
like a gentleman for a time.'

Charlie smiled, and drew his purse out of his pocket. 'Here is three
pounds,' he said. 'The other three I will give you when I return.'

'Suppose you don't return, sir? Accidents happen at sea as well as on
land. If you got washed overboard, should I lose my thr