ither it's a chicken, sure, or ownly the yoke an' white, till ye
bhrake the shill?"

"No," said I laughing. "But, we don't find chickens generally in our
eggs at home."

"Wait till ye thry one on shipboord," he retorted. "Still, ye can't
deny now that ye don't know for sure what's insoide the shill till ye
bhrake it, an' say for yoursilf--eh?"

"No," I assented to this reasoning; "but, I don't see what that's got to
do with the captain."

"Don't ye, honey?" replied he with another expressive wink. "Wait till
ye can say for yourself, that's all."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, understanding now that he was shrewd enough not to
commit himself to any opinion on the point; so, I did not pursue the
inquiry any further.

"Sure, ye'll excuse me, Misther Gray-ham," he said presently, after
another word or two on irrelevant matters; "but I must stop yarnin' now,
as I expexes the foorst mate aboord ivery minnit, an' he'll be
groomblin' like a badger wid a sore tail if those lazy lubbers ain't
hove all the cargy in. We've got to warp out o' dock this arternoon,
an' the tide'll make about `six bells'!"

"When is that?" I asked, to know the meaning of this nautical term,
which I guessed referred to the time of day, as my friend the boatswain
turned round again towards the stevedores, hurrying them on and making
them work with a will.

"Thray o'clock. Sure, I forgot ye didn't savvy our sailor's lingo at
all, at all," he explained to me between the interval of his orders to
the men, shouted out in the same high key as at first. "An', be the
same token, as it's now jist toorned two bells, or one o'clock, savin'
your prisince, I've got no toime to lose, me bhoy. Jist d'ye go oop
that ladder there, an' wait out av harum's way till I've done me job an'
can come for ye."

He pointed as he spoke to the steps or stairway leading from the main-
deck, where I had been standing alongside of him, to the poop.

I at once obeyed him; and, ascending with alacrity the poop ladder, was
able to see from that elevated position the capital way in which he
urged on and encouraged the men, until, as if by magic, the heavy boxes
and lumbering crates that had but a short time before almost covered the
jetty beside the ship, were all hoisted inboard and lowered down into
her hold.

Here, below, another gang of stevedores, not less busy than those above,
took charge of the stowage of the cargo, slamming the chests and crates
about, and so ramming