our (or three-quarters, if it's tremendous deep) without
movin'. If that don't do, and you ha'nt got time to try it over again,
give in at once, an haul your colours down, but on no occasion wotiver
nail them to the mast,--'xceptin' always, w'en you're cocksure that
you're right, for then, of coorse, ye can't go far wrong."

This little touch of philosophy convinced Bax that if he did not wish to
sit there half the night, the sooner he changed the subject the better,
so he called the waiter, and paid his bill, saying to his companions
that it was time to go aboard if they wanted a snooze before tripping
the anchor.

"What have you had, sir?" said the waiter, turning to Bluenose.

The man said this with a sneer, for he knew that the captain had taken
nothing since he entered the house, and was aware, moreover, that he was
a water-drinker.

"I've had nothin'," replied the Captain, "nor don't want any, thank
'ee."

"Oh! beg pardon, sir," the waiter bowed and retired impressively.

"The house couldn't keep goin' long with _some_ customers," stammered a
rough-looking, half-tipsy fellow who had overheard these remarks.

"Might do something for the good of the house," said another, who was
equally drunk.

"Who bade _you_ put in your oar?" cried the first speaker fiercely, for
he had reached that condition of intoxication which is well known as the
fighting stage. The other man was quite ready to humour him, so, almost
before one could understand what had been said, a savage blow was given
and returned, oaths and curses followed, and in two seconds one of the
combatants had his opponent by the throat, threw him on his back, with
his neck over the fender and his head thrust into the ashes.

Instantly the room was a scene of wild confusion, as some of the friends
of both men endeavoured to separate them, while others roared in drunken
glee to "let 'em have fair play, and fight it out."

The result of this quarrel might have been serious had not Bax thrust
the yelling crowd aside, and, exerting to the utmost the extraordinary
muscular power with which he had been endowed, tore the combatants
asunder by main force, and hurled them violently to opposite sides of
the room.

"Shame on you; lads," said he, "can you not drink your grog without
quarrelling about nothing?"

The towering size and the indignant look of Bax, as he said this, were
sufficient to quell the disturbance, although some of the more irascible
spirit