re himself,
and hailing a man who was sitting in a cart on the quay, arranged with
him to convey them to the station.

"Is 'e to be let go like this?" said Joe, hotly.

"Will you stop me?" demanded Fraser, choking with rage, as he stepped
aboard again.

"Joe," said Ben, sharply.

The seaman glared at him offensively.

"Go for'ard," said the new mate, peremptorily, "go for'ard, and don't
make yourself so busy."

The seaman, helpless with rage, looked to Captain Barber for guidance,
and, the old man endorsing the new mate's order, went forward, indulging
in a soliloquy in which Ben as a proper noun was mixed up in the company
of many improper adjectives.

Fraser, clambering into the cart, looked back at the _Foam_. The old man
was standing with his hands clasped behind his back looking down on the
deck, while the hands stood clumsily by. With an idea that the position
had suddenly become intolerable he sat silent until they reached the
station, and being for the first time for many months in the possession
of a holiday, resolved for various reasons to pay a dutiful visit to his
father at Bittlesea.

CHAPTER XI.

Captain Barber walked to his house in thoughtful mood, and sighed as he
thought of the uncertainty of life and the futility of earthly wishes.
The blinds at his windows were all decently drawn, while the Union Jack
drooped at half-mast in the front garden. He paused at the gate, with
a strong distaste for encountering the subdued gloom and the wealth of
womanly love which awaited him indoors, and bethinking himself of the
masterless state of his craft, walked slowly back and entered the Thorn
Inn.

"No news, I suppose, Captain Barber?" said the landlady, regarding him
with great sympathy.

The captain shook his head, and exchanging greetings with a couple of
neighbours, ordered something to drink.

"It's wonderful how you bear up, I'm sure," said the landlady. "When my
poor dear died I cried every day for five weeks. I came down to skin and
bone almost."

"Well, if I was you--" said the old man, irritably, and regarding the
lady's ample proportions with an unfavourable eye.

"What?" enquired the other, pausing with her fingers on the whisky-tap.

"If I was you," repeated Captain Barber, slowly, in order to give time
for full measure, "I should go an' cry for five months all day and all
night."

The landlady put the glass in front of him sharply, and after giving him
his change without