mes a day.
No mate, d'ye understand?"

"No mate!" they vociferated. "No whusky!"

"No, ye bundle o' bad min, no whisky. Ye've drunk up what ye had, and
that was in America. Yer not in America now, and ye'll git no whisky,
nor mate, barrin' four times a week."

"We paid fur ut," they declaimed. "How kin a mon wurruk widout it?"

"Ye _can_ wark widout it and ye will. Ye'll pull ropes as I tell you,
and as ye l'arn ye'll steer the boat in yer turn."

"We'll shteer, will we?"

"Yes, ye'll steer, straight for old Ireland and praties."

"Hurrah! We'll git to the ould sod, will we?"

"Yes, but ye'll do it yerselves, mind ye. No kicks, no scraps. Ye'll do
as yer told, and pull ropes, and wark."

"We'll wurruk," they declared, noisily. "It's not the loikes o' you
th't'll foind the wurruk we can't do, nayther."

"We'll see," said Murphy, nodding his head portentously.

"Meanwhile, take yerself away from this end o' the boat, and stay away
from it; and don't ye ever raise yer hands agin' any man that lives in
this end o' the boat, or things'll happen to ye. Now git."

He drew forth the brick, and they left his vicinity.

"Captain Williams," said Murphy, solemnly, "that was a close call. If
ye'll take my advice, Captain, ye won't lay hands on 'em."

"Why?" answered the skipper. "Do you think I'm going to have them
trooping around my cabin?"

"No, not at all; but show 'em the brick, only don't use it, or they'll
throw it back. And don't make any gun-play, for they don't know what it
means, and it's no good, for ye can't shoot into thim. They're that
hard that they'll turn a bullet, I'm told."

"Possibly," said the captain, looking at his hand. "I hurt myself when
I hit him. Well, Murphy, all right, if you can control them. I can see
that I might have to shoot them all if I shot one, and that wouldn't
do."

"No, of course not, sir. I'll l'arn a few of them to steer, and the
mates'll be rid of it."

So, under these conditions they worked the ship across the western
ocean. By tact and "sign language" Murphy induced them to stand their
tricks at the wheel; but they would stand no tutelage, and steered in
their own way--a zizzag track over the sea. Another limitation which
they imposed upon their usefulness was their emphatic refusal to stand
watch, though from inward impulse they divided themselves into watches.
They would work factory hours, or not at all, so Captain Williams had
to be content with the loss of mo