Flower promised, and hobbling towards the door turned into the street.
Then the amiable air which he had worn in the shop gave way to one of
unseemly hauteur as he saw Fraser hurrying towards him.

"Look out," cried the latter, warningly.

The skipper favoured him with a baleful stare.

"All right," said the mate, angrily, "go your own way, then. Don't come
to me when you get into trouble, that's all."

Flower passed on his way in silence. Then a thought struck him and he
stopped suddenly.

"You wish to speak to me?" he asked, stiffly.

"No, I'm damned if I do," said the mate, sticking his hands into his
pockets.

"If you wish to speak to me," said the other, trying in vain to conceal
a trace of anxiety in his voice, "it's my duty to listen. What were you
going to say just now?"

The mate eyed him wrathfully, but as the pathetic figure with its
wounded toe and cargo of remedies stood there waiting for him to speak,
he suddenly softened.

"Don't go back, old man," he said, kindly, "_she's_ aboard."

Eighteen pennyworth of mixture, to be taken thrice daily from
tablespoons, spilled over the curb, and the skipper, thrusting the other
packets mechanically into his pockets, disappeared hurriedly around the
corner.

"It's no use finding fault with me," said Fraser, quickly, as he stepped
along beside him, "so don't try it. They came down into the cabin before
I knew they were aboard, even."

"They?" repeated the distressed Flower. "Who's they?"

"The young woman that came before and a stout woman with a little dark
moustache and earrings. They're going to wait until you come back to ask
you a few questions about Mr. Robinson. They've been asking me a few.
I've locked the door of your state-room and here's the key."

Flower pocketed it and, after a little deliberation thanked him.

"I did the best I could for you," said the other, with a touch of
severity. "If I'd treated you as some men would have done, I should have
just let you walk straight into the trap."

Flower gave an apologetic cough. "I've had a lot of worry lately, Jack,"
he said, humbly; "come in and have something. Perhaps it will clear my
head a bit."

"I told 'em you wouldn't be back till twelve at least," said the mate,
as Flower rapidly diagnosed his complaint and ordered whisky, "perhaps
not then, and that when you did turn up you'd sure to be the worse
for liquor. The old lady said she'd wait all night for the pleasure of
seeing your b