V

_In Which Notorious Tom Tulk o' Twillingate and the
Skipper of the "Black Eagle" Put Their Heads Together Over
a Glass of Rum in the Cabin of a French Shore Trader_

There was never a more notorious rascal in Newfoundland than old Tom
Tulk of Twillingate. There was never a cleverer rascal--never a man
who could devise new villainies as fast and execute them as neatly.
The law had never laid hands on him. At any rate not for a crime of
importance. He had been clapped in jail once, but merely for debt; and
he had carried this off with flying colours by pushing past the
startled usher in church and squatting his great flabby bulk in the
governor's pew of the next Sunday morning. He was a thief, a chronic
bankrupt, a counterfeiter, an illicit liquor seller. It was all
perfectly well known; but not once had a constable brought an offense
home to him. He had once been arrested for theft, it is true, and
taken to St. John's by the constables; but on the way he had stolen a
watch from one and put it in the pocket of the other, thereby
involving both in far more trouble than they could subsequently
involve him.

Add to these evil propensities a deformed body and a crimson
countenance and you have the shadow of an idea of old Tom Tulk.

* * * * *

George Rumm and Tom Tulk boarded the _Black Eagle_ in the rain and
sought the shelter of her little cabin. The cook had made a fire for
the skipper; the cabin was warm and quiet. Tom Tulk closed the door
with caution and glanced up to see that the skylights were tight.
Skipper George produced the bottle and glasses.

"Now, Skipper George," said Tom Tulk, as he tipped the bottle, "'tis a
mint o' money an' fair easy t' make."

"I'm not likin' the job," the skipper complained. "I'm not likin' the
job at all."

"'Tis an easy one," Tom Tulk maintained, "an' 'tis well paid when 'tis
done."

Skipper George scowled in objection.

"Ye've a soft heart for man's work," said Tom, with a bit of a
sneer.

Skipper George laughed. "Is you thinkin' t' drive me by makin' fun o'
me?" he asked.

"I'm thinkin' nothin'," Tom Tulk replied, "but t' show you how it can
be done. Will you listen t' me?"

"Not me!" George Rumm declared.

Tom Tulk observed, however, that the skipper's ears were wide open.

"Not me!" Skipper George repeated, with a loud thump on the table.
"No, sir! I'll have nothin' t' do with it!"

Tom Tulk fancied t