THE REASON WHY THE VOYAGE WAS UNDERTAKEN

At this point it is necessary that the reader should be made
acquainted with what has been only hinted up to this point. We mean
the reason why it was that the little schooner _Coral_, under the
charge of Captain Bergen and Abram Storms, the mate, was on the
Pacific Ocean, voyaging toward the South Seas.

The skipper was fond of telling the strange story, and the mate heard
it many times, as repeated to him one stormy night, around the roaring
fire of Captain Bergen's hearthstone in New England. It ran thus:

"You see, Abe, I was going down Washington Street, in Boston, one day,
when I came upon a drunken sailor, who was suffering a terrible
beating at the hands of a couple of land-sharks, that were were
evidently determined to rob him, if they had not already done so.

"It r'iled my blood to see such scandalous proceedings going on, and I
sailed in.

"Then I helped pick up Jack tar, and he was taken to the hospital,
where his wounds were found to be of a dangerous nature. His
assailants were so badly hurt that they went to the hospital, and when
they came out they were shifted to the penitentiary, where they're
likely to stay for a good many years to come.

"Having taken the part of Bill Grebbens, as he told me his name was, I
called at the hospital to see him every day, for I wasn't busy just
then. The poor fellow was very grateful for the service I had done
him, though sad to say I was too late.

"Bill had been on such a terrible spree that his system wasn't in
condition to resist disease, and before long it was plain he was going
to make a die of it. He was a plucky fellow, and when the doctor told
him he had to go, he didn't weaken.

"Just before he died, he took me by the hand, and told me he hadn't a
living relative in the world, nor one who had been such a friend to
him as I had proved to be. By that time my own eyes were getting
misty, and I begged him to say nothing about it.

"I told him I would see that he had a decent burial, and would attend
to anything he wanted me to do. He said there wasn't anything, for it
could make no difference to him what became of his body after his
death, and for his part he would as lief the doctors should have it.

"However, he took this paper from under his pillow and showed it to
me, and told me all about it. I thought at first his mind was
wandering, but I soon saw that his head was level, and he knew what he
was ta