' ses the gal.

"They moved off without another word--from them, I mean. I heard the
wicket slam and then I 'eard a cab drive off over the stones. I
couldn't believe it at first. I couldn't believe a gal with such
beautiful blue eyes could be so hard-'earted, and for a long time I
stood listening and hoping to 'ear the cab come back. Then I stepped up
to the companion and tried to shift it with my shoulders.

"I went back to the cabin at last, and arter lighting the lamp I 'ad
another sup o' the skipper's whisky to clear my 'ead, and sat down to
try and think wot tale I was to tell 'im. I sat for pretty near three
hours without thinking of one, and then I 'eard the crew come on to the
wharf.

"They was a bit startled when they saw my 'ead at the skylight, and then
they all started at the same time asking me wot I was doing. I told 'em
to let me out fust and then I'd tell 'em, and one of 'em 'ad just
stepped round to the companion when the skipper come on to the wharf and
stepped aboard. He stooped down and peeped at me through the skylight
as though he couldn't believe 'is eyesight, and then, arter sending the
hands for'ard and telling 'em to stay there, wotever 'appened, he
unlocked the companion and came down."

THE UNDERSTUDY

The Understudy

"Dogs on board ship is a nuisance," said the night-watchman, gazing
fiercely at the vociferous mongrel that had chased him from the deck of
the Henry William; "the skipper asks me to keep an eye on the ship, and
then leaves a thing like that down in the cabin."

He leaned against a pile of empty casks to recover his breath, shook his
fist at the dog, and said, slowly--

Some people can't make too much of 'em. They talk about a dog's honest
eyes and his faithful 'art. I 'ad a dog once, and I never saw his eyes
look so honest as they did one day when 'e was sitting on a pound o'
beefsteak we was 'unting high and low for.

I've known dogs to cause a lot of trouble in my time. A man as used to
live in my street told me he 'ad been in jail three times because dogs
follered him 'ome and wouldn't go away when he told 'em to. He said
that some men would ha' kicked 'em out into the street, but he thought
their little lives was far too valuable to risk in that way.

Some people used to wink when 'e talked like that, but I didn't: I
remembered a dog that took a fancy to old Sam Small and Ginger Dick and
Peter Russet once in just the same way.

It wa