ss
foolishness for hum an' me to be stoppin' here wastin' our time when we
ought to be at oor work."

"Nonsense, Captain," said Mabberly; "surely you don't think that taking
a holiday in a pleasant place like this is wasting time. Besides, I
don't consider you free from your engagement to me. You were hired for
the trip, and that includes land as well as water, so I won't give you
your discharge till you have had a long rest, and recruited yourselves
after the shock to your nervous systems occasioned by the wreck and the
swim to shore!"

A grim smile played on the skipper's iron features when reference was
made to his nerves, and a flicker of some sort illumined the wooden
visage of McGregor.

"You are fery kind, sir," returned the skipper; "but we don't like to be
receivin' pay for doin' nothin'. You see, neither Shames nor me cares
much for fushin' in the burns, or goin' after the deer, an' there's no
chance o' raisin' the yat from the pottom o' the sea, so, if you hev no
objection, sir, we will be goin' by the steamer that arrives to-morrow.
I thought I would speak to you to-day, for we will hev to start early in
the mornin', before you're up, for it iss a long way we'll hev to go.
Iss it not so, Shames?"

"Oo, ay," replied the seaman, with more than ever of the nasal twang;
"it iss a coot many miles to where the poat comes in--so the poy Tonal'
wass tellin' me, what-e-ver."

Mabberly tried to persuade the men to remain a little longer, but they
were obdurate, so he let them go, knowing well that his father, who was
a wealthy merchant and shipowner, would see to the interests of the men
who had suffered in his son's service.

As they retraced their steps to the house the skipper gave Giles Jackman
some significant glances, which induced him to fall behind the others.

"You want to speak with me privately, I think, skipper?"

"Yes, sir, I do," replied the seaman, with some embarrassment. "But it
iss not fery easy nor pleesant to do so. A man does not like to speak
of another man's failin's, you see, but as I am goin' away I'm obleeged
to do it. You will hev noticed, sir, that Ivor Tonalson iss raither
fond of his tram?"

"I'm afraid that I have observed that--poor fellow."

"He is a goot man, sir, is Tonalson--a fery goot man--when he iss sober,
but he hes got no power to resist the tram. An' whiles he goes on the
spree, an' then he gits wild wi' D.T. you know, sir. Noo, ever since we
cam' here, I