n at the
coast. But, I say, Guy, my boy, you han't took to drinkin', have ye?"

"No, Captain," said Guy, with a smile, "nothing stronger than beer, and
not much of that. I merely came here to meet Bax."

Captain Bluenose--whose name, by the way, had no reference to his nose,
for that was small and red--scratched his chin and stared into vacancy,
as if he were meditating.

"Why, boy," he said at length, "seems to me as if you'd as good cause to
suspec' me of drinkin' as I have to suspec' you, 'cause we're both
_here_, d'ye see? Howsever, I've been cruisin' after the same craft,
an' so we've met, d'ye see, an' that's nat'ral, so it is."

"Well, and now you have found me, what d'ye want with me?" said Bax,
finishing the bread and cheese, and applying to the gin and water.

"Shipmet, I'm goin' home, and wants a berth a-board the `Nancy,'" said
Bluenose.

"Couldn't do it, Captain," said Bax, shaking his head, "'gainst rules."

"I'll go as a hextra hand--a suppernummerary," urged the Captain.

"Why, Captain," said Guy, "is it not strange that I should have come
here to make the very same request? Come, Bax, you're a good fellow,
and will take us both. I will guarantee that my uncle will not find
fault with you."

"Ah, that alters the case," said Bax, "if you choose to take the
responsibility on your own shoulders, Guy, you're welcome to the best
berth a-board the old `Nancy.' D'ye know, I've a fondness for that old
craft, though she is about as unseaworthy a schooner as sails out o' the
port of London. You see, she's the only craft bigger than a Deal lugger
that I ever had command of. She's my first love, is the old `Nancy,'
and I hope we won't have to part for many a day."

"Quite right, young man," said Captain Bluenose, nodding his head
approvingly, and filling his pipe from a supply of tobacco he always
carried in the right pocket of his capacious blue waistcoat. The
Captain gazed with a look of grave solemnity in the manly countenance of
the young sailor, for whom he entertained feelings of unbounded
admiration. He had dandled Bax on his knee when he was a baby, had
taught him to make boats and to swim and row when he became a boy, and
had sailed with him many a time in the same lugger when they put off in
wild storms to rescue lives or property from ships wrecked on the famous
Goodwin Sands.

"Quite right, young man," repeated the Captain, as he lighted his pipe,
"your sentiments does you credit.