red the call of "Cook." Sitting on
the bench in the corner, I felt a curious stare upon me, and looking
across the room, saw its owner, a tough customer by the expression he
wore. For some peculiarity of conduct, this sailor was the next evening
removed from the _Bonadventure_ by the police, with no passive resistance,
as I vaguely heard. The police recovered.

Two youths sat by me, their good nature showing itself in their talk. They
painted my near future. The heat we should soon be feeling, 130 in the
shade; the troubled Biscay, where "seven seas meet, which causes a great
upheaval," chequered the vista. The function of crossing the Line was
described as bygone, even in its less inconvenient traditions, such as
giving the greenhorn binoculars through which a (hair) "Line" was plain
enough.

My name was called, and I went to the front. The captain conferred with
the clerk. For technical purposes, as I supposed, I was put down "purser."
The rank was given, but not the talents.

Now, the hour of the _Bonadventure's_ sailing being imminent, the
ship's officers who had been away were returning. The chief engineer,
obviously regarded as a wise man; the second mate, full of stories; the
wireless operator, youthful and brilliantined, appeared at the cabin
table. The captain's wife drew up matrimonial plans for the third mate,
who was not beyond blushing over his late tea--the not impossible, but
improbable, She was evidently a recognized memory of Hamburg. The
captain was striving to get at the facts when a doctor came in, summoned
to see an apprentice; and he left his meal to hear the diagnosis.
Reappearing, he said, "The only bit of luck we've had. The boy's got
appendicitis." This was not euphemism; what might have happened had
the ship left before the boy's illness was known for what it was, both
to boy and authorities, he went on to hint. This piece of recognition
was due to the mate.

We were not leaving that evening, though loading ceased. I walked into
Barry, and found its cinematograph programme somewhat worse than is
the average. This, and the change of the weather from keen to mizzling,
persuaded me back to my cabin for the rest of the evening; and after the
night's rest, broken sometimes by sounds of "mighty workings," I looked
through my porthole to discover that the ship had left the tips. She
was now lying, under a cloudy, showery sky, well out to the middle of
the water, and the buildings round the Docks