e other parts; the stern
is crushed in a'most afore ye can think, an' in two minutes more, if not
less, it's all up with ye, unless there's a lifeboat at hand."

"Ah! pity there's not more of 'em on the coast," said Gaff.

"True," rejoined Haco, "many a poor feller's saved every year by them
blessed boats, as would otherwise have gone to the bottom, an' left
widder and childer to weep for him, an' be a burden, more or less, on
the country."

The waiter appeared at this point in the conversation with the soup, so
Haco devoted himself to dinner, while Gaff ordered a plate of bread and
cheese extra in order to keep him company. For some minutes they all
ate in silence. Then Haco, during the interval between the courses,
informed Gaff that he expected to return to the port of London in a day
or two; whereupon Gaff said that he just happened to be lookin' out for
a ship goin' there, as he had business to do in the great city, and
offered to work his way. The skipper readily promised to ship him as an
extra hand, if the owner chose to send the `Coffin' to sea without
repairs, "which," observed Haco, "is not unlikely, for he's a
close-fisted customer."

"Who is he?" inquired Gaff.

"Stuart of Seaside Villa," said Haco.

"Ha! he _is_ a tough un," observed Gaff, with a significant grin. "I
knows him well. He don't much care riskin' fellers' lives, though I
never heard of him riskin' his own."

"He'd very near to answer for mine this voyage," said Haco, as well as
he could through a mouthful of steak and potato.

"How was that?"

"This is how it was," answered the skipper, bolting the mouthful, "you
see the `Coffin's' not in a fit state for sea; she's leaky all over, an'
there's a plank under the starboard quarter, just abaft the cabin
skylight, that has fairly struck work, caulk it and pitch it how you
please, it won't keep out the sea no longer, so when we was about to
take in cargo, I wrote to Mr Stuart tellin' him of it, an' advisin'
repairs, but he wrote back, sayin' it was very awk'ard at this time to
delay that cargo, an' askin' if I couldn't work the pumps as I had used
to do, besides hintin' that he thought I must be gettin' timid as I grew
old! You may be sure I didn't think twice. Got the cargo aboard; up
sail an' away.

"Well, it was blowin' a stiff nor'-wester when we got away, an' we
couldn't have beat into port again if our lives depended on it. So I
calls the crew aft, an' told 'em how the mat