rn, I placed him, of immigrants from Southern
Italy--from Naples, or even Sicily.

"Twist . . . sir," he answered, precisely in the same manner as the
others.

"Too long," the mate sneered. "The Kid'll do you. Got _that_?"

"I gotcha . . . sir. Kid Twist'll do me . . . sir."

"Kid'll do!"

"Kid . . . sir."

And the three laughed their silent, mirthless laugh. By this time Mr.
Pike was beside himself with a rage that could find no excuse for action.

"Now I'm going to tell you something, the bunch of you, for the good of
your health." The mate's voice grated with the rage he was suppressing.
"I know your kind. You're dirt. D'ye get _that_? You're dirt. And on
this ship you'll be treated as dirt. You'll do your work like men, or
I'll know the reason why. The first time one of you bats an eye, or even
looks like batting an eye, he gets his. D'ye get that? Now get out. Get
along for'ard to the windlass."

Mr. Pike turned on his heel, and I swung alongside of him as he moved
aft.

"What do you make of them?" I queried.

"The limit," he grunted. "I know their kidney. They've done time, the
three of them. They're just plain sweepings of hell--"

Here his speech was broken off by the spectacle that greeted him on
Number Two hatch. Sprawled out on the hatch were five or six men, among
them Larry, the tatterdemalion who had called him "old stiff" earlier in
the afternoon. That Larry had not obeyed orders was patent, for he was
sitting with his back propped against his sea-bag, which ought to have
been in the forecastle. Also, he and the group with him ought to have
been for'ard manning the windlass.

The mate stepped upon the hatch and towered over the man.

"Get up," he ordered.

Larry made an effort, groaned, and failed to get up.

"I can't," he said.

"Sir!"

"I can't, sir. I was drunk last night an' slept in Jefferson Market. An'
this mornin' I was froze tight, sir. They had to pry me loose."

"Stiff with the cold you were, eh?" the mate grinned.

"It's well ye might say it, sir," Larry answered.

"And you feel like an old stiff, eh?"

Larry blinked with the troubled, querulous eyes of a monkey. He was
beginning to apprehend he knew not what, and he knew that bending over
him was a man-master.

"Well, I'll just be showin' you what an old stiff feels like, anyways."
Mr. Pike mimicked the other's brogue.

And now I shall tell what I saw happen. Please remember what I have s