ding by the
mainmast bitts, I could see, had a grim smile on his face. "Sam, ye
scoundrel! Come aft hyar at once when I hail, or by thunder I'll
keelhaul ye, ez safe ez my name's Ephraim O Snaggs!"

The bathos of this peroration was too much for Jan Steenbock, and he
burst into a loud "ho! ho!"

It was the last straw that broke the camel's--I mean the captain's--
back, and he got as mad as a hatter.

"Ye durned Dutch skunk!" he flamed out, the red veins cross-hatching his
face in his passion. "What the blue blazes d'ye mean by makin' fun o'
yer cap'n? Snakes an' alligators, I'll disrate ye--I'll send ye forrud;
I'll--I'll--"

"I vas not means no harms, cap'n," apologised the other, on the skipper
stopping in his outburst for want of breath, the words appearing to be
choking in his mouth, coming out too quick for utterance, so that they
all got jumbled together. "I vas hab no bad respect of yous, sare. I
vas only lafs mit meinselfs."

"Then I'd kinder hev ye ter know, Mister Steenbock, thet ye'd better not
laugh with yerself nor nary a body else when I'm on the poop," retorted
Captain Snaggs, not believing a word of this lucid explanation, although
he did not seemingly like to tell him so, and quarrel right out. "I
guess though, as ye're so precious merry, ye might hev a pull taken at
thet lee mainbrace. If ye wer anything of a seaman ye'd hev done it
without me telling ye!"

Having administered this `flea in the ear' to the second-mate, the
captain turned round abruptly on his heel, with a muttered objurgation,
having some reference to Jan Steenbock's eyes; and, as he looked aft, he
caught sight of me.

"Jee-rusalem, b'y!" he exclaimed; "what in thunder air ye doin' hyar?
The poop ain't no place fur cabin b'ys, I reckon."

"The steward sent me up, sir," I replied, trembling; for he looked as
fierce as if he could eat me without salt, his bristly beard sticking
out and wagging in the air, as he spoke in that snarling voice of his.
"He t-t-old me to tell you, sir, that dinner was ready in the cabin,
sir."

The ship at the moment giving a lurch to port, as a fresh blast of wind
caught her weather side, sending a big sea over the waist, I rolled up
against him as I answered his question.

"Then ye ken skoot right away an' tell him thet I guess I'm boss hyar,"
cried he, after shoving me back with an oath against the cabin skylight,
which I almost tumbled over. "I'm goin' to hev my meals when I chooses,