nown to me, and on seeing the good
man's genial face I at once thought of a way in which he could be
of service to me. It is always well to have a friend in court. Why
should he not be asked to get me a berth on one of the outgoing
ships?

"Tak' a seat, now," said he, as he placed a stool for me in a warm
corner of the cabin. "Tak' a seat and tell us a' that's passing in
Stromness this while back, and then we'll get something to eat."

While he was asking questions and listening to my replies, I
quietly observed the miscellaneous contents of the cabin. A curious
place it was--half cabin and half shop. From the ceiling hung many
hams and pieces of bacon, smoked geese, pots and pans, bundles of
tallow candles, and strings of onions. On two shelves nailed
athwart the compartment were rows of canisters containing coffee,
tea, rice, and other luxuries and necessaries, besides bottles of
drugs, bars of soap, squares of salt, and other articles of
commerce, to be retailed to customers in the remote islands.

Presently a seaman, who was addressed as Jerry, came below and took
the potatoes from the fire, while the skipper drew a small table to
the middle of the floor and set it ready for dinner. The potatoes
were placed in a large dish in the centre of the table where we
could all reach them, and a joint of corned beef was added, with
plenty of oatcakes, cheese, and salt butter.

When all was ready for the meal the mate appeared, from I know not
where, and took his seat opposite the skipper, and I drew my stool
between them, while the man Jerry sat nearer the fire on an
upturned cask.

The mate, whose name was Peter Brown, was a red-faced little man
with a nose that had a decided list to the starboard, very untidy
in his dress, and given a bit to swearing, but a real good sort of
fellow, as I afterwards found, and a capital seaman. He had served
in English ships in the Baltic trade, but getting knocked about in
a storm rounding Cape Wrath, breaking his arm and his nose, he had
been put ashore at Kirkwall, where he had met with Captain Flett
and joined the Falcon, thirteen years before this time.

"And now, my lad," said Flett, blowing a hot potato that he held in
his horny hand, "what brings ye all the way to Kirkwall on a cold
day like this? Ye didna tell us that."

"Well, captain," I said, looking down at my platter and wondering
how I could eat its plentiful contents, hungry though I was, "I
just sauntered along to