allowance, too. I'm not goin' to cry hush-baby w'en the
_Andromeda_ gets this sort of kid's dodge worked off on 'er."

"If you're alloodin' to me," put in the incensed "chief," whose temper
rose on this direct provocation, "I want to tell you now----"

"Does the cap fit?" sneered Coke.

"No, it doesn't. I never 'eard of that kind of potash in me life.
D'ye take me for a--chemist's shop?"

"Never 'eard of it!" cried the incensed skipper, who had obviously made
up his mind as to the person responsible for the outrage. "There's
'arf a dozen cases of it in the after hold--or there was, w'en we put
the hatches on."

"Even if some of the cases were broken, sir, the contents could not
reach the tanks," said Hozier, who fancied that Coke's attack on the
bibulous Watts was wholly unwarranted. But the commander's wrath could
not be appeased.

"Get this stuff pumped out, an' 'ave the tanks scoured. We'll put into
Fernando Noronha, an' refill there. It's on'y a day lost, an' I guess
the other liquor on board 'll last till we make the island. Sink me,
if this ain't the queerest run this crimson ship 'as ever 'ad. I'll be
glad w'en it's ended."

Coke lurched away in the direction of the chart-room. Hozier found him
there later, poring over a chart of Fernando Noronha. Iris, on hearing
the steward's version of the affair, came to the bridge for further
enlightenment, but Coke merely told her that the island was a Lloyd's
signal station, so she could cable to her uncle.

"Can I go ashore?" she asked.

"I dunno. We'll see. It's a convict settlement for the Brazils, an'
they're mighty partic'lar about lettin' people land, but they'll 'ardly
object to a nice young lady like you 'avin' a peep at 'em."

As his tone was unusually gruff, not to say jeering, she resolved to
find an opportunity of seeking Hozier's advice on the cablegram
problem. But the portent of the blood-red water was not to be
disregarded. Never was Delphic oracle better served by nature. The
_Andromeda_ began to roll ominously; masses of black cloud climbed over
the southwest horizon; at midday the ship was driving through a heavy
sea. As the day wore, the weather became even more threatening. A sky
and ocean that had striven during three weeks to produce in splendid
rivalry blends of sapphire blue and emerald green and tenderest pink,
were now draped in a shroud of gray mist. With increasing frequency
and venom, vaulting seas curled over th