"Well, we are fortunate in finding so experienced a navigator," observed
the Count to the Baron, as they followed Captain Jan Dunck towards the
steps at the bottom of which lay his boat. "He'll carry us as safely
round the world as would have done the brave Captains Schouten and Le
Maire, or Christofero Columbo himself."

"If we take him at his own estimation he is undoubtedly a first-rate
navigator; but you must remember, my dear Count, that it is not always
safe to judge of men by the report they give of themselves; we shall
know more about them at the termination of our voyage than we do at
present," observed the Baron. "However, there is the boat, and he is
making signs to us to follow him."

The Count and Baron accordingly descended the steps into the galiot's
boat, in the stern of which sat the Captain, his weight lifting the bows
up considerably out of the water. A sailor in a woollen shirt who had
lost one eye, and squinted with the other, and a nose, the ruddy tip of
which seemed anxious to be well acquainted with his chin, sat in the
bows with a pair of sculls in his hand ready to shove off at his
captain's command.

"Give way," said the skipper, and the one-eyed seaman began to paddle
slowly and deliberately, for the boat was heavily weighted with the
skipper and the Count and Baron in the stern, and as there was no
necessity for haste, greater speed would have been superfluous.

"Is this the way boats always move over the water?" asked the Count, as
he observed the curious manner in which the bow cocked up.

"Not unless they have great men in the stern, as my boat has at
present," answered the skipper.

"Ah, yes, I understand," said the Count, looking very wise.

The boat was soon alongside the galiot, on board which the skipper
stepped. As soon as he was out of her the bow of the boat came down
with a flop in the water. He then stood ready to receive the Count and
Baron. As he helped them up on deck, he congratulated them on having
thus successfully performed the first part of their voyage. "And now,
Mynheers," he continued, "I must beg you to admire the masts and
rigging, the yellow tint of the sails, the bright polish you can see
around you."

"You must have expended a large amount of paint and varnish in thus
adorning your vessel," observed the Count.

"I have done my best to make her worthy of her Captain," answered the
skipper, in a complacent tone, "and worthy, I may add, of convey