vor an' me hes been great friends, an' it hes been heavy on
my mind to see him like that, for he's a fine man, a superior person, is
Ivor, if he would only let alone the whusky. So I hev spoken to him
wance or twice--serious like, you know. At first he was not pleased,
but the last time I spoke, he took it kindly, an' said he would think
aboot what I had been sayin'. Noo, it's heavy on me the thoucht o'
goin' away an' leavin' him in that state, so I thoucht that maybe ye
would tak the metter up, sir, an' see what ye can do wi' him. Git him,
if ye can, to become a total abstainer, nothin' less than that wull do
wi' a man in that condeetion."

Jackman was greatly surprised, not only at the tenor of the skipper's
remarks, but at the evidently deep feeling with which he spoke, for up
to that time the reticence and quiet coolness of the man had inclined
him to think that his mind and feelings were in harmony with his rugged
and sluggish exterior. It was, therefore, with something of warmth that
he replied,--"I shall be only too happy to do as you wish, Captain; all
the more that I have had some serious thoughts and feelings in that
direction. Indeed, I have made up my mind, as it happens, to speak to
Ivor on that very subject, not knowing that you were already in the
field. I am particularly sorry for his poor old mother, who has
suffered a great deal, both mentally and physically, on his account."

"Ay, that's the warst o' it," said the skipper. "It wass the sicht o'
the poor wumin ailin' in body an' broken heartit that first set me at
Ivor."

"But how comes it, Captain, that you plead so earnestly for _total_
abstinence?" asked Jackman with a smile. "Have I not heard you defend
the idea of moderate drinking, although you consented to sail in a
teetotal yacht?"

"Mr Jackman," said the skipper, with almost stern solemnity, "it iss
all fery weel for men to speak aboot moderate drinkin', when their
feelin's iss easy an' their intellec's iss confused wi' theories an'
fancies, but men will change their tune when it iss brought home to
themselves. Let a man only see his brither or his mither, or his
faither, on the high road to destruction wi' drink, an' he'll change his
opeenion aboot moderate drinkin'--at least for hard drinkers--ay, an'
he'll change his practice too, unless he iss ower auld, or his stamick,
like Timothy's, canna git on withoot it. An' that minds me that I would
tak it kind if ye would write an'