e alley the barber had affixed his
signboard, close above the base of his pole; to the left a flanking
slopshop dangled a row of cast-off suits, while immediately overhead
was nailed a board painted over with ornate flourishes and the
legend--

"G. Goodfellow. Carpenter and House-Decorator, &c.
Repairs Neatly Executed. Instruction in the Violin.
Funerals at the Shortest Notice. Shipping Supplied."

"Drunk again!" repeated the parrot. "Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me, kiss
me! Oh, you nasty image! Kiss me, kiss me! Who killed the
Portugee?"

"He don't mean you," explained the barber, reassuringly, emerging at
that moment from his shop with a pannikin of water for the parrot's
cage, which he lowered very deftly by means of a halliard reeved
through a block at the end of the pole. "He means old Coffin.
Nice bird, hey?"

He slipped a hand through the cage-door, and caressed him, scratching
his head.

"If you please, sir," said I, "it's Captain Coffin I'm looking for."

"Drunk again!" screamed the bird. "Damn my giblets, drunk again!"

"He don't like Coffin, and that's a fact," said the barber.

"He don't appear to, sir," I agreed.

"You'll find the old fellow down the yard. That is, if you really
want him." The barber eyed me doubtfully. "He's sober enough, just
now; been swearin off liquor for a week. I dare say you know his
temper's uncertain at such times."

I did not know it, but was too far committed to retreat.

"Well, you'll find him down the yard--green door to the right, with
the brass knocker. He's out at the back, hammering at his ship, but
he'll hear you fast enough: he's wonderful quick of hearing."

A man, even though he possessed a solid brass knocker, had need to be
quick of hearing in that alley. Without, street-hawkers were bawling
and carts rattling on the cobbled thoroughfare; from the entrance the
parrot vociferated after me as I went down the passage beneath an
open window whence an invisible violin repeated the opening phrase of
"Come, cheer up, my lads!" plaintively and persistently; while from
the far end, somewhere between it and the harbour side, an irregular
hammering punctuated the music.

I knocked, and the hammering ceased. The rest of the din ceased not,
nor abated. In about a minute the green door opened--a cautious inch
or two at first, then wide enough to reveal Captain Coffin. He wore
a dirty white jumper over his upper garments, and held a