ppishly
what he was "scared about?"

The mate made no reply, and the captain was just going below again, when
two fishing canoes, with four natives in each, came quite near us, both
heading for the shore; and the skipper asked me to hail them and see if
they had any fish to sell. I did so.

"No," was the reply; "we are going back again, because much rain and
wind is coming from the westward, and we want to get over the reef
before the surf becomes too great." Then one of them stood up and
added--

"Why does not the ship go away quickly. This is a very bad place here
when the wind and the sea come from the west. Your ship will be broken
to pieces."

"What do they say?" inquired the little man.

I translated what they had said.

"Bosh, I say again," was the reply, "the glass has been as steady as a
rock for the past three days," and then, to my intense anger, he added
an insinuation that my fears had led me to deliberately misinterpret
what the natives had said. The retort I made was of so practical a
nature that the mate had to assist the skipper to his feet.

A quarter of an hour later, as the mate and I still walked the deck,
discussing the captain's shortcomings, the wind died away suddenly, and
then several of our native crew came aft, and said that a squall was
coming up from the westward, and the mate, though neither he nor myself
could then see any sign of it, went below and again called the captain.

He came on deck, with one hand covering his injured left optic, told
me he would settle with me in the morning, and then took a long look
astern, and there, certainly enough, was a long streak of black rising
over the horizon. The mate stood by waiting his orders.

"It's not coming near us," said the little man more snappishly than
ever, as he marched up and down the poop.

"I say it is," said Laird bluntly, "and I consider this ship will be
ashore, if we don't slip and tow out a bit before it is too late."

The mate's manner had some effect on the obstinate little animal--"Oh,
well, if there's such a lot of old women on board, I'll give in. Call
the hands, and we'll heave up."

"Heave up!" echoed the mate in angry astonishment, "what's the use of
trying to heave up now! That squall will be on us in ten minutes, and
if we had an hour to spare, it would be none too long. Why, man, it's
a dead calm, and the swell will send us into the surf on the reef quick
enough without our dragging the ship into it. R