ost like, we'll be running up the latitoods inter frost. I'm in a
hard fix, shipmate, an' you kin see it."

Trunnell seemed to be thinking for several minutes. Then he spoke.

"There's lots o' bugs an' things forrads, ain't there?" said he.

"If by lots ye means millions, I reckon ye're talkin'," said the man.

"Well," said Trunnell, "I'll tell ye what I'll do. You get a sail needle
an' a line to it about half a fathom long, see?"

"I sees."

"Well, then ye go about between decks, an' in the alleyways, an' behind
the bunks, an' around the galley, an' earn yer own outfit with that
needle, see? When ye have a string o' bugs a-fillin' the string like
clear up to the needle's eye, ye bring them aft to me, an' I gives ye
credit fer them in clothes or grog, each string bein' worth a drink, an'
a hundred worth a shirt or pants. Do ye get on to the game?"

"I get on to it well enough," said the fellow, "but what I wants to know
is, whether ye'll take me whurd o' honner that I'll catch a string o'
bugs afore night, an' give me the rum now to stave off the chill."

"I will," said Trunnell.

The old man rose from the hatchway, and struggled hard to get into his
shirt. The garment had shrunk so, however, that the sleeves reached but
to his elbows and the tails to his waist band. He seized the open front
in his hand and looked solemnly at the mate with his sad eyes.

"Lead me to it! Lead me to it! For the Lord's sake, lead me to it!" he
said quietly.

And Trunnell went into the forward cabin with the apparition following
eagerly in his wake.

What a strange little giant he was, this mate! "Discipline is
discipline," he would say, and no man got anything for nothing
aboard his ship.

XXI

We crossed the line in 24 west longitude, running close to the St. Paul's
Rocks. These strange peaks to the southward of the equator caused some
interest aboard, rising as they do out of the middle of the ocean a mile
or more in depth.

The air was hot and muggy the day we crossed into the northern
hemisphere, and the light breeze died away again, leaving the ship with
her courses clewed up, rolling and wallowing uneasily in the swell.

Jackwell, as I must always call him now, spruced himself up better than
usual, and paid more attention to the ladies. He avoided me at every
opportunity; but as neither Chips nor myself ever alluded to the story
we had heard from Jim, his courage rose, and he became more familiar
with the