onkey's paw.

The skipper of the "Butterfly" was a friend of Bluenose, and knew Tommy.
He at once agreed to give him a passage to London, and never thought of
asking questions.

Soon after the boy went aboard the wind changed to the south-west; the
"Butterfly" spread her black wings, bore away to the nor'ard, and
doubled the North Foreland, where she was becalmed, and left to drift
with the tide just as night was closing in.

"I'm tired, Jager" (this was the skipper's name); "I'll go below and
take a snooze," said Tommy, "for I've lots o' work before me to-morrow."

So Tommy went below and fell asleep. The three men who formed the crew
of this dingy craft lay down on the deck, the night being fine, and also
fell asleep, Jager being at the helm.

Now Jager was one of those careless, easy-going, reckless seamen, who,
by their folly, ignorance, and intemperance are constantly bringing
themselves to the verge of destruction.

He sat near the tiller gazing up at the stars dreamily for some time;
then he looked round the horizon, then glanced at the compass and up at
the sails, which hung idly from the yards, after which he began to
mutter to himself in low grumbling tones--

"Goin' to blow from the nor'ard. Ay, allers blows the way I don't want
it to. Driftin' to the southward too. If this lasts we'll drift on the
Sands. Comfr'able to think on, that is. Come, Jager, don't you go for
to git into the blues. Keep up yer sperits, old boy!"

Acting on his own suggestion, the skipper rose and went below to a
private locker, in which he kept a supply of rum,--his favourite
beverage. He passed Tommy Bogey on the way. Observing, that the boy
was sleeping soundly, he stopped in front of him and gazed long into his
face with that particularly stupid expression which is common to men who
are always more or less tipsy.

"Sleep away, my lad, it'll do ye good."

Accompanying this piece of unnecessary advice with a sagacious nod of
the head, the skipper staggered on and possessed himself of a
case-bottle about three-quarters full of rum, with which he returned to
the deck and began to drink.

While he was thus employed, a breeze sprang up from the north-east.

"Ease off the sheets there, you lubbers!" shouted the drunken man, as he
seized the tiller and looked at the compass. "What! sleeping again,
Bunks? I'll rouse ye, _I_ will."

With that, in a burst of anger, he rushed forward and gave one of the
sleepers a se