ll eat
him."

"What's the matter, Mr. Todd?" inquired the landlord, with a glance at
his friends. "What's he done?"

"_Done?_" repeated the excitable Mr. Todd.

"Done? They come walking on to my wharf as if the place--FETCH HIM OUT,"
he bawled, breaking off suddenly. "Fetch him out and I'll skin him
alive."

Captain Brisket took Mr. Stobell by the cuff and after a slight
altercation drew him inside.

"Tell that red-whiskered man to come outside," bawled Mr. Todd. "What's
he afraid of?"

"What have you been doing to him?" inquired Captain Brisket, turning to
the pallid Mr. Chalk.

"Nothing," was the reply.

"Is he coming out?" demanded the terrible voice, "or have I got to wait
here all night? Why don't he come outside, and I'll break every bone in
his body."

Mr. Stobell scratched his head in gloomy perplexity; then, as his gaze
fell upon the smiling countenances of Mr. Todd's fellow-townsmen, his
face cleared.

"He's an old man," he said, slowly, "but if any of you would like to step
outside with me for five minutes, you've only got to say the word, you
know."

Nobody manifesting any signs of accepting this offer, he turned away and
took a seat by the side of the indignant Tredgold. Mr. Todd, after a
final outburst, began to feel exhausted, and forsaking his prey with much
reluctance allowed himself to be led away. Snatches of a strong and
copious benediction, only partly mellowed by distance, fell upon the ears
of the listeners.

"Did you offer him the seventy?" inquired Captain Brisket, turning to Mr.
Tredgold.

"I did," said Mr. Chalk, plaintively.

"Ah," said the captain, regarding him thoughtfully; "perhaps you ought to
ha' made it eighty. He's asking eight hundred for it, I understand."

Mr. Tredgold turned sharply. "Eight hundred?" he gasped.

The captain nodded. "And I'm not saying it's not worth it," he said,
"but I might be able to get it for you for six. You'd better leave it to
me now."

[Illustration: "Captain Brisket waving farewells from the quay as they
embarked."]

Mr. Tredgold at first said he would have nothing more to do with it, but
under the softening influence of a pipe and a glass was induced to
reconsider his decision. Captain Brisket, waving farewells from the quay
as they embarked on the ferryboat later on in the afternoon, bore in his
pocket the cards of all three gentlemen, together with a commission
entrusting him with the preliminary negotiations for