was pushed back, and a
middle-aged woman, labouring under strong excitement, appeared on deck.

"You villain!" she screamed excitably, rushing up to the mate. "Take me
back; take me back!"

"What's all this, Harry?" demanded the skipper sternly.

"He--he--he--asked me to go into the cab--cabin," sobbed Mrs. Jansell,
"and sent me to sleep, and too--too--took me away. My husband'll kill
me; I know he will. Take me back."

"What do you want to be took back to be killed for?" interposed one of
the men judicially.

"I might ha' known what he meant when he said I brightened the cabin
up," said Mrs. Jansell; "and when he said he thought me and my daughter
were sisters. He said he'd like me to sit there always, the wretch!"

"Did you say that?" inquired the skipper fiercely.

"Well, I did," said the miserable mate; "but I didn't mean her to take
it that way. She went to sleep, and I forgot all about her."

"What did you say such silly lies for, then?" demanded the skipper.

The mate hung his head.

"Old enough to be your mother too," said the skipper severely. "Here's a
nice thing to happen aboard my ship, and afore the boy too!"

"Blast the boy!" said the goaded mate.

"Take me back," wailed Mrs. Jansell; "you don't know how jealous my
husband is."

"He won't hurt you," said the skipper kindly "he won't be jealous of a
woman your time o' life; that is, not if he's got any sense. You'll have
to go as far as Boston with us now. I've lost too much time already to
go back."

"You must take me back," said Mrs. Jansell passionately.

"I'm not going back for anybody," said the skipper. "But you can make
your mind quite easy: you're as safe aboard my ship as what you would be
alone on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic; and as for the mate, he
was only chaffing you. Wasn't you, Harry?"

The mate made some reply, but neither Mrs. Jansell, the skipper, nor
the men, who were all listening eagerly, caught it, and his unfortunate
victim, accepting the inevitable, walked to the side of the ship and
gazed disconsolately astern.

It was not until the following morning that the mate, who had received
orders to mess for'ard, saw her, and ignoring the fact that everybody
suspended work to listen, walked up and bade her good morning.

"Harry," said the skipper warningly.

"All right," said the mate shortly. "I want to speak to you very
particularly," he said nervously, and led his listener aft, followed
by three of the c