te-faced, smiling only when his employer chanced to
glance at him, leaned against the wheel-box, looking on. Twice, he left
the group and went below, remaining there but a minute each time. Later,
in the main cabin, when Lorenzo, Lee Goom and Toyama received their
presents, he disappeared into his stateroom twice again. For of all
times, the devil that slumbered in Captain Dettmar's soul chose this
particular time of good cheer to awaken. Perhaps it was not entirely the
devil's fault, for Captain Dettmar, privily cherishing a quart of whisky
for many weeks, had selected Christmas Eve for broaching it.

It was still early in the evening--two bells had just gone--when Duncan
and his wife stood by the cabin companionway, gazing to windward and
canvassing the possibility of spreading their beds on deck. A small,
dark blot of cloud, slowly forming on the horizon, carried the threat
of a rain-squall, and it was this they were discussing when Captain
Dettmar, coming from aft and about to go below, glanced at them with
sudden suspicion. He paused, his face working spasmodically. Then he
spoke:

"You are talking about me."

His voice was hoarse, and there was an excited vibration in it. Minnie
Duncan started, then glanced at her husband's immobile face, took the
cue, and remained silent.

"I say you were talking about me," Captain Dettmar repeated, this time
with almost a snarl.

He did not lurch nor betray the liquor on him in any way save by the
convulsive working of his face.

"Minnie, you'd better go down," Duncan said gently. "Tell Lee Goom we'll
sleep below. It won't be long before that squall is drenching things."

She took the hint and left, delaying just long enough to give one
anxious glance at the dim faces of the two men.

Duncan puffed at his cigar and waited till his wife's voice, in talk
with the cabin-boy, came up through the open skylight.

"Well?" Duncan demanded in a low voice, but sharply.

"I said you were talking about me. I say it again. Oh, I haven't been
blind. Day after day I've seen the two of you talking about me. Why
don't you come out and say it to my face! I know you know. And I know
your mind's made up to discharge me at Attu-Attu."

"I am sorry you are making such a mess of everything," was Duncan's
quiet reply.

But Captain Dettmar's mind was set on trouble.

"You know you are going to discharge me. You think you are too good to
associate with the likes of me--you and your wife."