cuse to say I did my best. I hadn't
figured on that fire and the powder, and that's a fact."

"I wonder," said the Mate thoughtfully, "which of those beggars scoffed
that gold zodiac ring of mine. That steward's boy, Tins, I expect. Took
the ring and left the new blue suit. Well, by gum, they're a funny lot,
those boys."

CHAPTER VI

THE WIRE-MILKERS

"Look here," said Sheriff, "you compel me to be brutal, but the fact is,
they've had enough of you here in Lagos. So far as I can see, you've
only got the choice of two things. You can have a free passage home to
England as a Distressed Seaman by the next steamer, and you know what
that means. The steamer gets paid a shilling a day, and grubs and berths
you accordingly, and you earn your 'bacca money by bumming around the
galley and helping the cook peel spuds. Or else, if you don't like that,
you can do the sensible thing, and step into the billet I offer you."

"By James!" said Kettle, "who's going to turn me out of Lagos; tell me
that, sir?"

"Don't get wrathful with me. I'm only telling you what you'll find out
to be the square truth if you stay on long enough. The authorities here
will be equal to handling you if you try to buck against them."

"But, sir, they have no right to touch me. This isn't French territory,
or German, or any of those clamped-down places. The town's as English as
Liverpool, and I'm a respectable man."

"The trouble of it is," said Sheriff drily, "they say you are not. There
are a limited number of white men here in Lagos--perhaps two hundred all
told--and their businesses and sources of income are all more or less
visible to the naked eye. Yours aren't. In the language of
the--er--well--the police court, you've no visible means of subsistence,
and yet you always turn out neat, and spruce, and tidy; you've always
got tobacco; and apparently you must have meals now and again, though I
can't say you've got particularly fat on them."

"I've never been a rich man, sir. I've never earned high wages--only
once as much as fifteen pounds a month--and there's the missis and the
family to provide for; and, as a consequence, I've never had much to
spend on myself. It would surprise a gentleman who's been wealthy like
you, Mr. Sheriff, to see the way I can make half-a-crown spin out."

"It surprises me to see how you've made nothing at all spin out," said
Sheriff; "and as for the Lagos authorities I was speaking about, it's
done more; it