ntinued.

"Ay; 'tis like there'll be a bit o' fog."

Skipper and clerk helped themselves to another dram of rum. Why was it
that Tom Tulk had made them a parting gift? Perhaps Tom Tulk
understood the hearts of new-made rascals. At any rate, skipper and
clerk, both simple fellows, after all, were presently heartened.

Tommy Bull laughed.

"Skipper," said he, "do you go ashore an' say you'll take the _Black
Eagle_ t' sea the morrow, blow high or blow low, fair wind or foul."

The skipper looked up in bewilderment.

"Orders," the clerk explained, grinning. "Tell 'em you've been wigged
lively enough by Sir Archibald for lyin' in harbour."

Skipper George laughed in his turn.

"For'ard, there!" the clerk roared, putting his head out of the cabin.
"One o' you t' take the skipper ashore!"

Three fishing-schooners, bound down from the Labrador, had put in
for safe berth through a threatening night. And with the skippers
of these craft, and with the idle folk ashore, Skipper George
foregathered. Dirty weather? (the skipper declared); sure, 'twas dirty
weather. But there was no wind on that coast could keep the _Black
Eagle_ in harbour. No, sir: no wind that blowed. Skipper George was
sick an' tired o' bein' wigged by Sir Archibald Armstrong for lyin' in
harbour. No more wiggin' for _him_. No, sir! He'd take the _Black
Eagle_ t' sea in the mornin'? Let it blow high or blow low, fair
wind or foul, 'twould be up anchor an' t' sea for the _Black Eagle_
at dawn. Wreck her? Well, let her _go_ t' wreck. Orders was orders. If
the _Black Eagle_ happened t' be picked up by a rock in the fog
'twould be Sir Archibald Armstrong's business to explain it. As
for Skipper George, no man would be able t' tell _him_ again that
he was afraid t' take his schooner t' sea. An' orders was orders,
sir. Yes, sir; orders was orders.

"I'm not likin' the job o' takin' my schooner t' sea in wind an' fog,"
Skipper George concluded, with a great assumption of indignant
courage; "but when I'm told t' drive her, _I'll drive_, an' let the
owner take the consequences."

This impressed the Labrador skippers.

"Small blame t' you, Skipper George," one declared, "if you do lose
her."

Well satisfied with the evidence he had manufactured to sustain the
story of wreck, Skipper George returned to the schooner.

"Well," he drawled to the clerk, "I got my witnesses. They isn't a man
ashore would put t' sea the morrow if the weather comes as it
promises