rd: I know what it is to talk confidently and
what it is to talk confidentially, and you do both, sir," replied the
steward.

"But I am sometimes more confidential than confident. Now you must do
all your work in my state room when I am not in the cabin, and this is
the new rule," said Christy, as he went out of the room. "I know that I
can trust you, Dave; but when I tell a secret I want to know to how many
persons I am telling it. You may finish your work now;" and he closed
the door.

Christy could not have explained why he did so if it had been required
of him, but he went directly to the door leading out into the companion
way, and suddenly threw it wide open, drawing the portiere aside at the
same time. Not a little to his surprise, for he had not expected it,
he found a man there; and the intruder was down on his knees, as if in
position to place his ear at the keyhole. This time the young commander
was indignant, and without stopping to consider as long as the precepts
of his father required, he seized the man by the collar, and dragged him
into the cabin.

"What are you doing there?" demanded Christy in the heat of his
indignation.

The intruder, who was a rather stout man, began to shake his head with
all his might, and to put the fore finger of his right hand on his mouth
and one of his ears. He was big enough to have given the young commander
a deal of trouble if he had chosen to resist the force used upon him;
but he appeared to be tame and submissive. He did not speak, but he
seemed to be exerting himself to the utmost to make himself understood.
Flint had resumed his seat at the table, facing the door, and in spite
of himself, apparently, he began to laugh.

"That is Pink Mulgrum, Captain Passford," said he, evidently to prevent
his superior from misinterpreting the lightness of his conduct. "As you
are aware, he is deaf and dumb."

[Illustration: Mulgrum at the captain's door.]

"I see who he is now," replied Christy, who had just identified the man.
"He may be deaf and dumb, but he seems to have a great deal of business
at the door of my cabin."

"I have no doubt he is as deaf as the keel of the ship, and I have not
yet heard him speak a word," added the first lieutenant. "But he is a
stout fellow, very patriotic, and willing to work."

"All that may be, but I have found him once before hanging around that
door to-day."

At this moment Mulgrum took from his pocket a tablet of paper and a