?" he said gruffly.

"Yes, sir, please. Pray do!"

And the answer came--

"Where, my boy? Where?"

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THOUGHTS OF HOME.

Fitz Burnett looked wonderingly at the skipper as if he did not
comprehend the bearings of the question. "Where?" he faltered. "Yes;
you asked me to set you ashore. I say, where?"

"Oh, at any American or English port, sir."

"Do you know how far we are from the nearest?"

"No; I have no idea how far we have come."

"Never mind that," said the skipper gravely. "Let's take it from
another way of thinking. Do you know what it means for me to set you
ashore at some port?"

"Oh yes, sir: that I shall be able to communicate with any English
vessel, and get taken back to Liverpool."

"Well," said the skipper grimly, "you are a young sailor, but I am
afraid that you have very small ideas about the size of the world. I
dare say, though, that would be possible, sooner or later, for you go to
very few ports now-a-days without coming across a ship flying British
colours. It would be all right for you; but what about me?"

Fitz looked at him wonderingly again. "What about you, sir?" he
stammered. "I was not thinking about you, but about myself."

"That wanted no telling, my lad. It's plain enough. You were not
thinking about me, but I was. Look here, my boy. Do you know what my
setting you ashore means just now?"

"Yes, sir," said the boy sharply. "Getting rid of a very troublesome
passenger."

"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, I'll tell you what I think. It would
mean getting rid of one troublesome passenger, as you call yourself, and
taking a dozen worse ones on board in the shape of a prize crew. Why,
young Burnett, it would mean ruin to me and to my friends, whose money
has been invested in this cargo."

"Oh no, _no_, sir. I am alone out here, and my captain's vessel is far
away. I couldn't go and betray you, even if I wanted to. You could set
me ashore and sail away at once. That's all I want you to do."

"Sweet innocency!" said the skipper mockingly. "But I won't set it down
to artfulness. I think you are too much of a gentleman for that. But
do you hear him, Poole? Nice ideas he has for a beardless young officer
in Her Majesty's Navy. Why, do you mean to tell me, sir, you know
nothing about international politics, and a peculiar little way that
they have now-a-days of flashing a bit of news all round the world in a
few minutes of time? D