teroom?"

"Think it makes nice, snug quarters," was the prompt answer.

"Humph! Snug is a good word. Much like living in an omnibus, but it
answers the purpose. I furnished it myself, except for the bed. The
original bureau had pictures of cauliflowers painted on each drawer
front. Mrs. Hepton--my landlady--was convinced that they were roses. I
told her she might be right, but, at all events, looking at them made
me hungry. Perhaps she noticed the effect on my appetite and was willing
for me to substitute."

The captain laughed. Then, pointing, he asked: "What's that handbill?"

The "handbill" was a fair-sized poster announcing the production at the
"Eureka Opera House" of the "Thrilling Comedy-Drama, The Golden Gods."
Pearson looked at it, made a face, and shook his head.

"That," he said, "is my combined crusher and comforter. It is the
announcement of the first, and next to the last, performance of a play
I wrote in my calf days. The 'Eureka Opera House' is--or was, if the
'gods' weren't too much for it--located at Daybury, Illinois. I keep
that bill to prevent my conceit getting away with me. Also, when I get
discouraged over my novel, it reminds me that, however bad the yarn may
turn out to be, I have committed worse crimes."

This led to the captain's asking about the novel and how it was
progressing. His companion admitted having made some progress, more
in the line of revision than anything else. He had remodeled his hero
somewhat, in accordance with his new friend's suggestions during their
interview at the Warren apartment, and had introduced other characters,
portrait sketches from memory of persons whom he had known in his
boyhood days in the Maine town. He read a few chapters aloud, and
Captain Elisha waxed almost enthusiastic over them.

Then followed a long discussion over a point of seamanship, the handling
of a bark in a gale. It developed that the young author's knowledge
of saltwater strategy was extensive and correct in the main, though
somewhat theoretical. That of his critic was based upon practice and
hard experience. He cited this skipper and that as examples, and carried
them through no'theasters off Hatteras and typhoons in the Indian Ocean.
The room, in spite of the open window, grew thick with pipe smoke, and
the argument was punctuated by thumps on the desk and chair arms, and
illustrated by diagrams drawn by the captain's forefinger on the side
of the dresser. The effects of oil on b