'n't
been able to get under way, for want o' a wind."

"Want of a wind? I don't quite understand you."

"Why, you see, sir, I've been a little bit spreeish since comin' ashore,
and my locker's got low--more'n that, it's total cleared out. Though I
suppose there be plenty of gold in them diggin's, it takes gold to get
there; and as I ha'n't any, I'm laid up here like an old hulk foul o' a
mud bank. That's just how it be, gen'lemen."

"In which case, perhaps you mightn't feel indisposed to go to sea
again?"

"Just the thing I war thinkin' o', Master Ed'ard. I'd a'most made up my
mind to it, sir, an' war 'bout startin' to try get aboard the old
_Crusader_, and askin' your honour to ha' my name entered on her books
again. I'm willin' to join for a fresh tarm, if they'll take me."

"They'd take, and be glad to get you, Harry; you may be sure of that.
Such a skilled sailor need never be without a ship, where there's a
British man-of-war within hailing distance. But we don't want you to
join the _Crusader_."

"How is that, sir?"

"Because we can help you to something a little better. At least, it
will be more to your advantage in a pecuniary sense. You wouldn't mind
shipping in a merchant-vessel, with wages three or four times as much as
you can get in a man-of-war? How would you like that, Harry?"

"I'd like it amazin'ly, sir. And for the matter o' being a merchanter,
that's neither here nor there, so long's _you_ recommend it. I'll go as
cook, if you tell me to."

"No, no, Harry, not that," laughingly replies the young officer. "That
would never do. I should pity those who had to eat the dishes you'd
dress for them. Besides, I should be sorry to see you stewing your
strength away in front of a galley-fire. You must do better than that;
and it chances I'm authorised to offer you something better. It's a
berth on board a trading-ship, and one with some special advantages.
She's a Chilian vessel, and her captain is, I believe, either Chilian or
Spanish. That won't make any difference to you?"

"Not a doit, sir. I don't care what the ship's colours be, nor what
country her skipper, so long's he allows good wages an' plenty o' grub."

"And plenty of grog too, Harry?"

"Ay, ay, sir. I confess to a weakness for that--leastways the reg'lar
three times a day."

"No doubt you'll get it, as often as you've a mind. But, Harry, I have
a word to say about that. Besides my interest in your own welfare,