e body o' a
fairy-child bes human, lad. 'Tis but the heart o' her bes unhuman--an'
the beauty o' her--an' there bain't no soul in her. Did ye hear the
voice o' her, Denny? Holy saints! But was there ever a human woman wid
a voice the like o' that?"

"Aye, Granny, but did she eat? Did she drink? Did she shed tears?" asked
the skipper.

The old woman nodded her head.

"Fairies don't shed tears," said Dennis, grinning. "Sure, ye've told me
that yerself many a time."

"But half-fairies, like herself, sheds 'em as well as any human, ye mad
fool," returned Mother Nolan.

At that moment the outer door opened, and Nick Leary entered the
kitchen, closing the door behind him, and shooting the bolt into its
place. His face was so generously bandaged that only his eyes and nose
were visible. He glanced fearfully around the room.

"Where bes the mermaid? Has she flew away?" he whispered.

The skipper sprang to his feet with an oath.

"Mermaid?" he cried. "Ye dodderin' fool ye! She bes no more a mermaid
nor any fat wench in Chance Along! Has she flew, ye say! How to hell kin
a mermaid fly? Wid her tail? Ye bes a true man, Nick, or I'd bat ye over
the nob for yer trouble. She bes a poor young woman saved from a wrack,
as well ye know. What d'ye want wid me?"

Leary trembled, big as he was, and pulled off his fur cap with both
hands.

"Aye, skipper, aye! but where bes she now?" he whispered.

"She bes sleepin' like any poor babe in his reverence's own bed,"
replied the skipper.

"Saints presarve us!" exclaimed the other. "In the blessed father's bed!
I bain't sayin' naught, skipper, sir, but--but sure 'twill be desperate
bad luck for his reverence!"

Black Dennis Nolan lost his temper then. He gripped Nick by the
shoulder, swore at him, shook him about, and threatened to knock his
head off. Had Nick been one of the mutineers, the chances are ten to one
that he would have been floored and beaten half to death. But even in
the full fury of his rage the skipper did not lose sight of the fact
that this fellow was a loyal slave. He did not love Nick, but he loved
his dog-like devotion. So he kept his right hand down at his side, and
it cost him a mighty effort of restraint, and contented himself with
cursing and shaking. The boy stared at the two wide-eyed, and the old
woman smoked and nodded without so much as a glance at them. At last the
skipper unhooked his fingers from Nick's shoulder, laughed harshly and
returned to