the bundle, they brazenly entered the cabin by
the forward door. In ten minutes they emerged, Johnson clad in the blue
rig of a man-of-war's-man, Breen in the undress uniform of an officer,
his crippled arm buttoned into the coat. As they stepped toward the
gangway, Captain Bacon, pale and perspiring, wheezing painfully,
entered the cabin and passed out of their lives. The steward followed
at his heels, and the two mates, with curiously working faces,
approached Breen.

"Excuse me, sir," said Mr. Knapp, "but I want to say that I had no
notion o' this at all; and I hope you won't make no trouble for me
ashore."

Breen, one foot on the steps while he waited for the blue-jackets to
file over the side, eyed him thoughtfully.

"No," he said slowly. "I hardly think, Mr. Knapp, that I shall exert
myself to make trouble for you personally, or for the other two. There
is a measure now before Congress which, if it passes, will legislate
brutes like you and your captain off the American quarter-deck by its
educational conditions. This, with a consideration for your owners, is
what permits you to continue this voyage, instead of going back to the
United States in irons. But if I had the power," he added, looking at
the beautiful flag still flying at the gaff, "I would lower that
ensign, and forbid you to hoist it. It is the flag of a free country,
and should not float over slave-ships."

He mounted the steps, and, assisted by the young officer and Johnson,
descended to the boat; but before Johnson went down, he peered over the
rail at the two mates, grinning luridly.

"And I'll promise you," he said, "that I'm always willing to make
trouble for you, ashore or afloat, and wish I had a little more time
for it now. And you can tell your skipper, if you like, in case he
don't know it, that he got smashed with the same club that he used on
Mr. Breen, and I'm only d----d sorry I didn't bring it down on his
head. So long, you bloody-minded hell-drivers. See you again some day."

He descended, and Mr. Knapp gave the order to brace the yards.

"Give a good deal," he mused, as the men manned the braces, "to know
just how they got news to that cruiser. Homeward bound from
Hong-Kong--three months out. Couldn't ha' been sent after us."

But he never learned.

THE TRADE-WIND

The orgy was finished. The last sea-song had resounded over the smooth
waters of the bay; the last drunken shout, oath, and challenge were
voiced; the