half filled a tumbler with the
contents of the bottle, and drank it off at a single gulp.

He had hardly placed it on the table in the middle of the dishes before
the captain came below. His first step was to take a liberal potation
from the bottle. As he raised it to the swinging lamp, he discovered
that the fluid had been freely expended in his absence.

"You've punished this bottle all it deserves," said he when he perceived
that its level had been considerably lowered, and he did not ask the new
officer to join him. "That's all right, Mr. Sandman; but I don't want
you to take more than you can manage to-night, for we have a big job on
our hands, and we want our heads where we shall be able to find them.
Now go on deck, and learn what you can about the vessel, for we hain't
got but half an hour more before the Tallahatchie goes to sea. We may
have lots of music after we get outside; but I reckon our steamer can
outsail anything the Yankees have got on the blockade. Don't drink no
more, Mr. Sandman; and when we git to Nassau you can have a reg'lar
blowout."

"I won't touch another drop before we get out of the bay, Cap'n
Sullendine," protested Christy, without betraying the misdemeanor of
the cook, as doubtless it was.

"That's right, Mr. Sandman; we must all have our heads on our shoulders
to-night," said the captain, as he drank off the potion he had prepared.

Christy wished to hold the commander to his own advice; but that would
have been fighting on the wrong side for him, and Sopsy escaped a
reprimand, if not a kick or two, by his forbearance. By this time the
bottle was nearly empty; but the skipper put it under lock and key in
a closet, which seemed to be well filled with others like it. Christy
went on deck, in obedience to the order he had received, and found the
engineer on the quarter-deck buried in the fog, which was just then more
dense than at any time before.

"The captain's pretty well set 'up,' isn't he Christy?" said Graines in
a low tone.

"About half seas over; but he knows what he is about, though he took
another heavy potion just now," replied the lieutenant.

"All right; I think we can manage this craft very well without him,"
added Graines with a smile, which could not be seen in the darkness.

But the conversation was interrupted at this point by the appearance
of the cook, whose legs were more tangled up by his tipples than his
master's. He delivered the request of Captain Sullendi