arked Potter,
sneeringly. "But if she's no relation of yours there's no call for you
to worry any more about her; she's aboard my ship, now; and _I'll_ look
after her in future, and do whatever may be necessary. As for _you_,
I'll trans-ship you, the first chance I get; never fear."

The fellow's tone was so gratuitously offensive that Leslie determined
to come to an understanding with him at once.

"Captain Potter," he said, turning sharply upon the man, "your manner
leads me to fear that the presence of Miss Trevor and myself on board
your ship is disagreeable or inconvenient--or perhaps both--to you. If
so, I can only say, on behalf of the young lady and myself, that we are
very sorry; although our sorrow is not nearly profound enough to drive
us over the side again; we shall remain aboard here until something else
comes along to relieve you of our unwelcome presence; then we will go,
let the craft be what she will, and bound where she may. And,
meanwhile, so long as we are with you, I will pay you two pounds a day
for our board and accommodation, which I think ought to compensate you
adequately for any inconvenience or annoyance that we may cause you.
And Miss Trevor will continue to be under my care; make no mistake about
that!"

The offer of two pounds per diem for the board and lodging of two people
produced an immediate soothing and mollifying effect upon the skipper's
curious temper; he made an obvious effort to infuse his rather
truculent-looking features with an amiable expression, and replied, in
tones of somewhat forced geniality--

"Oh, all right, mister; I'm not going to quarrel with you. You and the
lady are quite welcome aboard here; and I'll do what I can to make you
both comfortable; though, with our limited accommodation, I don't quite
see, just at this minute, how it's going to be done. The lady can have
my cabin, and I'll take Purchas's; you, Purchas," turning to the mate,
"can have the steward's berth, and he'll have to go into the fo'c's'le.
That can be managed easy enough; the question is, Where are we going to
put you, mister?"

"Leslie," quickly interjected the individual addressed, who was already
beginning to feel very tired of being called simply "mister."

"Mr Leslie--thank you," ejaculated the skipper giving Leslie his name
for the first time, in sheer confusion and astonishment at being so
promptly pulled up. "As I was saying, the question is, Where can we put
you? We have