I came in for the letter-paper; I thought there was something up
when the consul asked me to look in again; but I never let on to you
fellows, so's you'd not be disappointed. Consul tried M'Neil; scared of
small-pox. He tried Capirati, that Corsican, and Leblue, or whatever his
name is, wouldn't lay a hand on it; all too fond of their sweet lives.
Last of all, when there wasn't nobody else left to offer it to, he
offers it to me. 'Brown, will you ship captain and take her to Sydney?'
says he. 'Let me choose my own mate and another white hand,' says I,
'for I don't hold with this Kanaka crew racket; give us all two months'
advance to get our clothes and instruments out of pawn, and I'll take
stock to-night, fill up stores, and get to sea to-morrow before dark!'
That's what I said. 'That's good enough,' says the consul, 'and you can
count yourself damned lucky, Brown,' says he. And he said it pretty
meaningful-appearing too. However, that's all one now. I'll ship Huish
before the mast--of course I'll let him berth aft--and I'll ship you
mate at seventy-five dollars and two months' advance."

"Me mate? Why, I'm a landsman!" cried Herrick.

"Guess you've got to learn," said the captain. "You don't fancy I'm
going to skip and leave you rotting on the beach, perhaps? I'm not that
sort, old man. And you're handy, anyway; I've been shipmates with
worse."

"God knows I can't refuse," said Herrick. "God knows I thank you from my
heart."

"That's all right," said the captain. "But it ain't all." He turned
aside to light a cigar.

"What else is there?" asked the other, with a pang of undefinable alarm.

"I'm coming to that," said Davis, and then paused a little. "See here,"
he began, holding out his cigar between his finger and thumb, "suppose
you figure up what this'll amount to. You don't catch on? Well, we get
two months' advance; we can't get away from Papeete--our creditors
wouldn't let us go--for less; it'll take us along about two months to
get to Sydney; and when we get there, I just want to put it to you
squarely: What the better are we?"

"We're off the beach at least," said Herrick.

"I guess there's a beach at Sydney," returned the captain; "and I'll
tell you one thing, Mr. Herrick--I don't mean to try. No, _sir_! Sydney
will never see me."

"Speak out plain," said Herrick.

"Plain Dutch," replied the captain. "I'm going to own that schooner.
It's nothing new; it's done every year in the Pacific. Stephens st