"We've been working steadily all night at the pumps, sir, hopin' to
keep her afloat, sir. The old man--I beg pardon, Captain Sackett,--says
as he'll not abandon her while she swims. The rest of us have
permission to go, sir."

"Is her cargo of any particular value, then?"

"Yes, sir. It's palm oil and valuable woods. There's eight hundred
barrels of palm oil in her, and the captain's got his all--every cent he
has in the world. He won't leave her."

"Do you know what you resemble, hey?" said our skipper, dryly.

"I do not, sir."

"Well, I don't want to hurt the feelings of a poor, shipwrecked sailor,
nor insinuate nothing sech as no gentleman ought. No, sirree. You are my
guest aboard here, and damned welcome to you. At the same time, if I ware
telling anybody as to what kind of a fellow you was, I should
say,--yessir, after thinking the matter over carefully, and taking all
points into consideration,--I might say that I thought ye an all-around
white-livered, cowardly cuss, an' that's a fact."

The English mate turned red. He started to say something, and then
checked himself. Finally he blurted out:--

"I've heard tell of some Yankee skippers who've given a bad name to your
infernal shipping, an' I reckon I've run up against one. But no fear! I
recognize you as our saviour, an' won't say a word, sir. The retort
courteous, as the saying is, would be a crack on the jaw of such a
fellow, but I don't say as I'll do it, sir. There's some fellows as needs
rippin' up the back, but you bein' captain of this here ship, I won't say
who they is, sir. No, sir, I won't say who they is, or nothin'. I just
ask that I be sent back aboard the _Sovereign_. The boat ain't gone yet,
and, by the Lord, I'll drown before I get into a ship like this."

"Well, by hookey, you won't, then," snarled the captain; "you'll stay
aboard this boat. A man that's born to be hung mustn't be drowned. Hey,
there, Rolling," he bawled, looking forward to where I stood, "get out
the boat and go with those fellows. Get all the rest afeard to stay
aboard, and come back. We won't stay here all day waiting for a lot of
fellows too afeard to know what they want."

The noise of the talking brought a female figure to the combings of the
companionway, and as the skipper finished, Miss Sackett stood on deck.

The mate of the _Sovereign_ greeted her, and told of her father's
determination to stay aboard his ship with three men who desired the
chance to mak