I am captain of this yacht, in fact as well
as in name; I brought her across from New York to the Nore without the
ghost of a hitch, and I guess I can take her the rest of the trip round
the world, upon which we are bound. Now, go ahead and tell me what you
know about navigation."

I named the several problems in navigation, one or more of which I had
been accustomed to practise daily and nightly under my late skipper; and
the lady was graciously pleased to express her cordial approval of my
knowledge.

"Yes," she said; "if you can do all those things I guess you are pretty
good--quite as good, in fact, as Neil Kennedy, my chief officer, and he
is no slouch as a navigator. Now, Mr Leigh, I have not been putting
you through your facings just out of sheer feminine curiosity; I've been
doing it with a purpose. I am Mrs Cornelia Vansittart, wife of Julius
Vansittart of New York, engineer, the inventor of the Vansittart
gasoline engine. I am passionately fond of yachting, so my husband made
me a present of the _Stella Maris_, and consented to my making a voyage
in her round the world. She is a good ship, and I have a good crew; but
I have only two mates, and Kennedy says that in a ship of this size, and
on such a cruise as we are contemplating, I ought to have a third. At
first I didn't propose to do anything of the kind, for I don't like
being told by anybody what I ought to do, or to have; but somehow, when
I saw you lost in admiration of my ship, I sort of took a fancy to you.
I like the look of you, and thought that if I must have a third mate,
I'd like one something like you; so I invited you to come aboard, that I
might have a chance to talk to you and find out if you came up to
sample. I mean to have a good time this trip, and I mean that my
officers and crew shall have a good time too, if it rests with me. I've
taken a whole lot of trouble to pick the right sort of men to man this
ship, and I've come to the conclusion that you are the right sort. So
if you care to accept the position I am ready to ship you as third mate
of the _Stella Maris_. The pay is thirty per, with all found, uniforms
included. Now, what do you say?"

I had a sufficient knowledge of American colloquialisms to be aware that
the expression "thirty per" meant thirty dollars--or six pounds--per
month, which was considerably better than I had hoped for, or was at all
likely to get elsewhere. I liked the ship, and I was immensely taken