ot
good enough. They may not be honest from inclination, but they've got
the fear of the gunboat always handy, and that's a wonderful civilizing
power. I tell you, captain, you needn't be frightened; that pirate
business is exploded for now and always."

"I know all about the piratical hankerings of those South Arabian
niggers, sir," said Kettle stiffly, "and I know what they can do and
what they can't do as well as any man living. And I know also what I can
do myself at a push, and the knowledge leaves me pretty comfortable. But
if you choose to think me frightened, I'll own I am. It's the
navigation down there that gave me cold shivers the first moment you
mentioned it."

"Why, it's no worse than the Red Sea here, anyway."

"Red Sea's bad, but you can get good charts of it and rely on them.
South Arabian coast is no better, and the charts aren't worth the paper
they're printed on. There are bad tide-rips down there, sir, and there
are bad reefs, and there's bad fog, and the truth of it is, there's no
handier place to lose a ship in all the big, wide world."

"I wouldn't like you to wreck the steamer down there. It might be
awkward for me getting back."

"Quite so," said Kettle, "you're thinking of yourself, and I don't blame
you. I'm thinking of myself also. I'm a man that's met a great deal of
misfortune, sir, and from one thing and another I've been eight years
without a regular command. I had the luck to bring in a derelict the
other day, and pocket a good salvage out of her, and my present owners
heard of it, and they put me as master of this steamer, just because of
that luck."

"Nothing like luck."

"If you don't lose it. But I am not anxious to pile up this steamboat on
some uncharted reef just because luck has left me, and have to wait
another eight years before I find another command."

"And, as I say, I'm as keen as you are not to get the steamer wrecked,
and if there's any way she can be kept out of a dangerous area, and you
can manage to set me ashore where I want in a boat, just you say, and
I'll meet you all I can. But at the same time, Skipper, if you don't
mind doing a swap, you might give me a good deal of help over my matter
in return."

"I haven't heard your business yet, sir. All you've told me is that you
want to be set down in this place, Dunkhot, and be taken off again after
you've stayed there four-and-twenty hours."

"Well, you see I didn't want it talked over beforehand. If the