u blasted yaller mutt!" snapped
the engineer. He marched on, cursing, and Mayo was encouraged, for the
man had given him a thorough looking-over.

He went out onto the wider streets. He was looking for a roving schooner
captain, reckoning he would know one of that gentry by the cut of his
jib.

A ponderous man came stumping down the sidewalk, swinging his shoulders.

"He's one of 'em," decided Mayo. The round-crowned soft hat, undented,
the flapping trouser legs, the gait recognized readily by one who has
ever seen a master mariner patrol his quarter-deck--all these marked him
as a safe man to tackle. He stopped, dragged a match against the brick
side of a building, and relighted his cigar. But before Mayo could reach
him a colored man hurried up and accosted the big gentleman, whipping
off his hat and bowing with smug humility. Mayo hung up at a little
distance. He recognized the colored man; he was one of the numerous
Norfolk runners who furnish crews for vessels. He wore pearl-gray
trousers, a tailed coat, and had a pink in his buttonhole.

"Ah done have to say that ah doan' get that number seven man up to now,
Cap'n Downs, though I have squitulate for him all up and down. But ah
done expect--"

Captain Downs scowled over his scooped hands, puffing hard at his cigar.
He threw away the match.

"Look-a-here! you've been chasing me two days with new stories about
that seventh man. Haven't you known me long enough to know that you
can't trim me for another fee?"

"Cap'n Downs, you done know yo'self the present lucidateness of the
sailorman supply."

"I know that if you don't get that man aboard my schooner to-night or
the first thing to-morrow morning you'll never put another one aboard
for me. You go hustle! And look here! I see you making up your mouth!
Not another cent!"

The colored man backed off and went away.

Mayo accosted the captain when that fuming gentleman came lunging along
the sidewalk. "Ah done lak to have that job, cap'n," he pleaded.

"You a sailor?"

"Yas, sir."

"How is it you ain't hiring through the regular runners?"

"Ah doan' lak to give all my money to a dude nigger to go spotein' on."

"Well, there's something in that," acknowledged Captain Downs, softening
a bit. "I haven't got much use for that kind myself. You come along. But
if you ain't A-1, shipshape, and seamanlike and come aboard my vessel
to loaf on your job you'll wish you were in tophet with the torches
lighted. Go