y comfortable in the snug little harbour and life was long. He
had a swim round his ship in the morning and another in the evening.
There was a chandler's shop on the water front where sailormen could get
a drink of whisky, and he spent the best part of the day there, playing
cribbage with the half-caste who owned it. At night the mate and he went
up to the house where the pretty girl lived and they sang a song or two
and told stories. It was the girl's father who suggested that he should
take her away with him. They discussed the matter in a friendly fashion,
while the girl, nestling against the captain, urged him by the pressure
of her hands and her soft, smiling glances. He had taken a fancy to her
and he was a domestic man. He was a little dull sometimes at sea and it
would be very pleasant to have a pretty little creature like that about
the old ship. He was of a practical turn too, and he recognised that it
would be useful to have someone around to darn his socks and look after
his linen. He was tired of having his things washed by a Chink who tore
everything to pieces; the natives washed much better, and now and then
when the captain went ashore at Honolulu he liked to cut a dash in a
smart duck suit. It was only a matter of arranging a price. The father
wanted two hundred and fifty dollars, and the captain, never a thrifty
man, could not put his hand on such a sum. But he was a generous one,
and with the girl's soft face against his, he was not inclined to
haggle. He offered to give a hundred and fifty dollars there and then
and another hundred in three months. There was a good deal of argument
and the parties could not come to any agreement that night, but the idea
had fired the captain, and he could not sleep as well as usual. He kept
dreaming of the lovely girl and each time he awoke it was with the
pressure of her soft, sensual lips on his. He cursed himself in the
morning because a bad night at poker the last time he was at Honolulu
had left him so short of ready money. And if the night before he had
been in love with the girl, this morning he was crazy about her.

"See here, Bananas," he said to the mate, "I've got to have that girl.
You go and tell the old man I'll bring the dough up to-night and she can
get fixed up. I figure we'll be ready to sail at dawn."

I have no idea why the mate was known by that eccentric name. He was
called Wheeler, but though he had that English surname there was not a
drop of