oose to make until he saw the second mate well out of ear-
shot. Then he leaned closely to me and said:

"Don't mention that little matter of my age to anybody. Each year I sign
on I sign my age one year younger. I am fifty-four, now, on the
articles."

"And you don't look a day older," I answered lightly, though I meant it
in all sincerity.

"And I don't feel it. I can outwork and outgame the huskiest of the
younglings. And don't let my age get to anybody's ears, Mr. Pathurst.
Skippers are not particular for mates getting around the seventy mark.
And owners neither. I've had my hopes for this ship, and I'd a-got her,
I think, except for the old man decidin' to go to sea again. As if he
needed the money! The old skinflint!"

"Is he well off?" I inquired.

"Well off! If I had a tenth of his money I could retire on a chicken
ranch in California and live like a fighting cock--yes, if I had a
fiftieth of what he's got salted away. Why, he owns more stock in all
the Blackwood ships . . . and they've always been lucky and always earned
money. I'm getting old, and it's about time I got a command. But no;
the old cuss has to take it into his head to go to sea again just as the
berth's ripe for me to fall into."

Again I started to enter the cabin, but was stopped by the mate.

"Mr. Pathurst? You won't mention about my age?"

"No, certainly not, Mr. Pike," I said.

CHAPTER III

Quite chilled through, I was immediately struck by the warm comfort of
the cabin. All the connecting doors were open, making what I might call
a large suite of rooms or a whale house. The main-deck entrance, on the
port side, was into a wide, well-carpeted hallway. Into this hallway,
from the port side, opened five rooms: first, on entering, the mate's;
next, the two state-rooms which had been knocked into one for me; then
the steward's room; and, adjoining his, completing the row, a state-room
which was used for the slop-chest.

Across the hall was a region with which I was not yet acquainted, though
I knew it contained the dining-room, the bath-rooms, the cabin proper,
which was in truth a spacious living-room, the captain's quarters, and,
undoubtedly, Miss West's quarters. I could hear her humming some air as
she bustled about with her unpacking. The steward's pantry, separated by
crosshalls and by the stairway leading into the chart-room above on the
poop, was placed strategically in the centre of all its operati