aring of the
two men. They were dark, undersized, and well set up; stepped softly,
waited deftly, brought on the wines and dishes at a look, and their eyes
attended studiously on their master.

"Where do you get your labour from anyway?" asked Davis.

"Ah, where not?" answered Attwater.

"Not much of a soft job, I suppose?" said the captain.

"If you will tell me where getting labour is!" said Attwater, with a
shrug. "And of course, in our case, as we could name no destination, we
had to go far and wide and do the best we could. We have gone as far
west as the Kingsmills and as far south as Rapa-iti. Pity Symonds isn't
here! He is full of yarns. That was his part, to collect them. Then
began mine, which was the educational."

"You mean to run them?" said Davis.

"Ay! to run them," said Attwater.

"Wait a bit," said Davis; "I'm out of my depth. How was this? Do you
mean to say you did it single-handed?"

"One did it single-handed," said Attwater, "because there was nobody to
help one."

"By God, but you must be a holy terror!" cried the captain, in a glow of
admiration.

"One does one's best," said Attwater.

"Well, now!" said Davis, "I have seen a lot of driving in my time, and
been counted a good driver myself. I fought my way, third mate, round
the Cape Horn with a push of packet-rats that would have turned the
devil out of hell and shut the door on him; and I tell you, this racket
of Mr. Attwater's takes the cake. In a ship, why, there ain't nothing to
it! You've got the law with you, that's what does it. But put me down
on this blame' beach alone, with nothing but a whip and a mouthful of
bad words, and ask me to ... no, _sir_! it's not good enough! I haven't
got the sand for that!" cried Davis. "It's the law behind," he added;
"it's the law does it, every time!"

"The beak ain't as black as he's sometimes pynted," observed Huish
humorously.

"Well, one got the law after a fashion," said Attwater. "One had to be a
number of things. It was sometimes rather a bore."

"I should smile!" said Davis. "Rather lively, I should think!"

"I daresay we mean the same thing," said Attwater. "However, one way or
another, one got it knocked into their heads that they _must_ work, and
they _did_ ... until the Lord took them!"

"'Ope you made 'em jump," said Huish.

"When it was necessary, Mr. Whish, I made them jump," said Attwater.

"You bet you did," cried the captain. He was a good deal flushed, but
not s