ogether to this cabin. And each day I have been
with you. Two weeks only.

JOE: I shall be gone, Betsy, in a little while.

BETSY: Gone?

JOE: I am not, my dear, the master of myself. We must forget these
days together.

BETSY: Joe!

JOE: May be I shall return. Fate is captain. The future shows so
vaguely in the mist. Listen! It is the Duke.

(_In the distance the Duke is heard singing the pirates' song._)

JOE: We must speak of these things together. Another time when there
is no interruption.

(_Gently she touches his fingers._)

BETSY: I shall be lonely when you go.

(_There is loud stamping at the door. Betsy goes quickly to the
kitchen._

_The Captain enters, followed by the Duke. Patch-Eye enters by way of
the ladder. The Captain has a hook hand. This is the very hook
mentioned in my preface--if you read prefaces--got from the corner
butcher. The Captain would be a frightful man to meet socially. I can
hear a host saying "Shake hands with the Captain." One quite loses
his taste for dinner parties. There is a sabre cut across the
Captain's cheek. He is even more disreputable in appearance than his
followers, with a bluster that marks his rank._)

[Illustration: The Captain would be a frightful man to meet socially]

CAPTAIN: There 's news! There 's news, me men! I 've brought big news
from the village.

(_He wrings the water from his hat. He is provokingly deliberate. All
of the pirates crowd around._)

CAPTAIN: By the bones of me ten fingers, it 's a blythe night fer our
business. It 's wetter than a crocodile's nest. When I smells a fog, I
feels good. I tastes it and is 'appy.

PATCH: What 's yer news, Captain?

CAPTAIN: News? Oh yes, the news. I 've jest hearn--I 've jest
hearn--blast me rotten timbers! How can a man talk when he 's dry! A
cup o' grog!

(_Darlin' has slipped into the room in the excitement. Old custom
anticipates his desire. She stands at his elbow with the cup, like a
dirty Ganymede. The Captain drinks slowly._)

CAPTAIN: There 's big news, me hearties.

DUKE: What 's yer news, Captain? We asks yer.

CAPTAIN: I 'm tellin' yer. It 's sweatin' with curiosity that kills
cats. (_He yawns and stretches his legs across the hob._) Down in the
village I learnt--I was jest takin' a drop o' rum at the Harbor Light.
It 's not as sweet as Darlin's. They skimps their sugar. Yer wants ter
keep droppin' it in as yer stirs it. I thinks they puts in too much
water. Water 's not muc