owner, too,
sir, for my poor brother left neither chick nor child in the world but
me. Damn me, sir! what right have you to invite everybody to my table
and cabin? ay, and put a stranger into my brother's very state-room?"

Blake looked confounded, and the other officers sat with bowed heads and
lowering brows at this insult to a man they all loved and respected; but
La Salle unconcernedly turned to the newly-fledged commander, and
said,--

"I regret, captain--really, I forget your name; but let that pass; but
when I came on board, I told this gentleman that I would sleep forward
with the men. I have not cared to speak about it before, but I can
assure you that I have the worst dreams in that state-room that I ever
had in my life. I shall try to recompense you for the passage of my
companions and myself when we arrive at St. John's;" and rising, he
bowed haughtily, and withdrew to the deck.

Ten minutes later he was joined by Blake.

"The captain has apologized to us, and begs that you will come to his
room, as he is too weak to leave the cabin."

La Salle attended the good-hearted sailor to the inner cabin, where a
mattress lay upon the table, and many appliances, among them a couple of
broad bandages of stout canvas, bore witness to the severity of the
captain's late illness. The sick man attempted to rise from his chair as
he entered, but was evidently very weak, and La Salle interposed,--

"Don't rise, captain, I beg of you. I see you are very weak, and perhaps
I was too ready to take offence. We should not always notice--"

"The disagreeable acts of a sick and almost heart-broken man,"
interposed Randall, with a smooth, deceitful softness of tone, that
instantly reawakened La Salle's antipathies. "I beg you, however," he
continued, "to excuse me, and to make yourself at home in your old
quarters. I should like to talk with you about your strange cruise, but
at St. John's we may have a better opportunity over a bottle of wine."

"I shall be glad to meet you with my friends as soon as I can see Smith
& Co., and get some notes changed, so that I can buy suitable clothes
for myself and friends;" and bowing, La Salle withdrew.

That night La Salle looked well to the fastenings of his door, lashing
the knob of the lock to a corner of his berth, where a knot had dropped
out of the deal. Several times he felt the thin partition tremble, and
heard the noise of some one tampering with the lock; but at last morning