shipmates, and, of course, his
own also.

"Faith, the skipper is foine and flourishin'," he informed me, "an' the
ould barquey as good an' as sound as ivver she was. Do you ricollict
ould Stokes?"

"Of course I do," I said. "Is he still chief?"

"No, no; he retired a year ago or more on a pinsion which the company
gave him for his long service; an' little Grummet--ye rimimber him?--
well, he's promoted, sure, to ould Stokes' billet. The ould chap,
though, is alive an' hearty, an' as asthamataky as ivver!"

"What's become of Mr Fosset?"

"Och, be jabbers! he's a big man now. He's a skipper on his own hook,
jist loike Cap'en Applegarth. He's got the ould _Fairi Quane_, the
sicond best boat but one to the line. D'ye ricollict that ould thaife
of a bo'sun we had on the _Star of the North_?"

"Why, you must mean poor old Masters! I should think I did."

"That same, alannah. He wasn't a bad sort of chap, an' a good sayman,
ivvry inch of him, though I used for to call him an ould thaife just
`for fun an' fancy'--as the old song says--well, he's lift the ould
barquey an' gone with Cap'en Fosset in the _Fairi Quane_. But ye
haven't axed me onst afther yer ould fri'nd Spokeshave! Sure, now, ye
haven't forgot little `Conky,' faith!"

"No, indeed," said I, amused at his query and the funny wink that
accompanied it. "What has become of that spiteful little beggar?"

"Begorrah, ye'll laugh an' be amused, but he's marri'd to a wife as big
as one of thim grannydeers we onst took in the ould barquey to Bermuda,
d'ye rimimber? Faith, she's saix feet hoigh, an' broad in the b'ame in
proporshi'n. They make a purty couple, bedad! an' they do say she kapes
him in order. Do ye rickolict what an argufyin' chap Spokeshave was
aboard?"

"I should think I did, indeed," replied I. "I think he was the most
cantankerous little beast I ever came across in my life, either afloat
or ashore!"

"Faith, ye wouldn't say that same now, Dick," rejoined Garry with much
earnestness. "The poor little beggar's as make as a cat, for he daren't
call his sowl his own!"

I asked after some of the other men belonging to my old ship, including
Accra Prout, whom the colonel wished to accompany us to Venezuela, the
mulatto refusing on the plea that, though he should always love his "old
massa," he could not go with him for one insurmountable reason.

"Guess I'd hav' 'sociate wid dem tam black raskels daan thaar, massa,
an' dis chile no l