be well paid, the vessel was such a
cranky, ill-found affair that I shrank from trusting my aunt and Lilla
in such a crazy hull.

"There's a chap out in the river yonder going to sail for New York at
the end of the week, Mas'r Harry," said Tom one morning. "I got into
conversation with him last night when I was smoking my pipe, and in
about half a minute he'd asked me what my name was, where I was born,
how many teeth I'd got, why I came here, what I was going to do next;
and when I told him I wanted to go back to England, he hit me over the
back and says: `Case o' dollars, stranger. I'll take you.' He's coming
to see you this morning."

About an hour after I saw a tall, thin, yellow-looking man coming up to
the house. He had a narrow smooth face, and two very dark eyes that
seemed to have been squeezed close up to his nose--a sharp nose--and a
very projecting much-pointed chin. His face was as devoid of hair as a
baby's, and taking him altogether, if Tom had not told me he was
curious, I should have said at once that he was a man who loved to ask
questions.

"Mornin', stranger," he said to both Tom and me, and then, with his
queer-looking sharp little eyes searching me all over, he went on: "I
guess you're the Englishman who wants to get home with all your tots."

"I am," I said. "May I ask your name?"

"Perks," he said sharply. "'Badiah P. Perks, o' New York. What's
your'n?"

I told him.

"Hah, yes. I could see you warn't an A-murray-can. I'll take you if
you'll pay."

"Oh, I'll pay a reasonable fare for our party," I replied.

"Party, eh? How many?"

"My uncle, his wife and daughter, and us two," I said.

"And that makes five, stranger. Baggage?"

"Yes," I said, "Let's look."

I hesitated for a moment, and then took him into the room where our neat
little chests were packed, one on the top of the other, with a couple of
blankets thrown over them.

"Hah!" said the skipper, trying one of the iron-bound cases. "Precious
heavy, mister. What's in 'em?"

"Curiosities," I replied.

"Just so," he said, winking one eye. "I said they was to myself soon as
I see the iron bands round 'em. Wal, they'll weigh up pretty smart.
You'll have to pay for them."

"Of course," I said; "anything reasonable."

"That's square, mister," he said, scanning the whole place eagerly.
"Now, what might bring you out here, eh?"

"I came to see my uncle," I replied, annoyed at the fellow's
impertinence, but t