acting," interposed Mrs. Gibbs. "Get off
this barge."

"You stay where you are," said the mate, authoritatively.

"Send that girl off this barge," screamed Mrs. Gibbs to her husband.

Captain Gibbs smiled in a silly fashion and scratched his head. "Where
is she to go?" he asked feebly.

"Wh'at does it matter to you where she goes?" cried his wife, fiercely.
"Send her off."

The girl eyed her haughtily, and repulsing the mate as he strove to
detain her, stepped to the side. Then she paused as he suddenly threw
off his coat, and sitting down on the hatch, hastily removed his boots.
The skipper, divining his intentions, seized him by the arm.

"Don't be a fool, Ted," he gasped; "you'll get under the barge."

The mate shook him off, and went in with a splash which half drowned his
adviser. Miss Harris, clasping her hands, ran to the side and gazed
fearfully at the spot where he had disappeared, while his sister in a
terrible voice seized the opportunity to point out to her husband the
probably fatal results of his ill-doing. There was an anxious interval,
and then the mate's head appeared above the water, and after a breathing-
space disappeared again. The skipper, watching uneasily, stood by with a
lifebelt.

"Come out, Ted," screamed his sister as he came up for breath again.

The mate disappeared once more, but coming up for the third time, hung on
to the side of the barge to recover a bit. A clothed man in the water
savours of disaster and looks alarming. Miss Harris began to cry.

"You'll be drowned," she whimpered.

"Come out," said Mrs. Gibbs, in a raspy voice. She knelt on the deck and
twined her fingers in his hair. The mate addressed her in terms rendered
brotherly by pain.

"Never mind about the purse," sobbed Miss Harris; "it doesn't matter."

"Will you make it up if I come out, then," demanded the diver.

"No; I'll never speak to you again as long as I live," said the girl,
passionately.

The mate disappeared again. This time he was out of sight longer than
usual, and when he came up merely tossed his arms weakly and went down
again. There was a scream from the women, and a mighty splash as the
skipper went overboard with a life-belt. The mate's head, black and
shining, showed for a moment; the skipper grabbed him by the hair and
towed him to the barge's side, and in the midst of a considerable hubbub
both men were drawn from the water.

The skipper shook himself like a dog, bu