go, he tells me, vor a drading
voy'ge to ze Galapagos Islants, and vas vant a zecond-mate, and vas ask
me vor to come mit hims."

"An' ye wented," interrupted the skipper--"hey?"

"Yase, I vas go! Cap'en Shackzon zays, zays he, bevore we sdart, dat ze
schgooners vas to zail vor Jarls Islant, call't by ze Sbaniards
`Vloreana,' vere dere vas a lot of beeples vrom Equador dat collect ze
orchilla veeds, and vas drade likevise to ze mainland mit ze hides and
zalt veesh, and ozer tings."

"I reckon all thet don't consarn us, mister," said the skipper,
arresting any further enumeration of the exports from Charles Island;
"an' so, ye went thaar to trade, hey?"

"Nein," came Jan Steenbock's unexpected answer; "ze schgooners vas not
go to Jarls Islant."

"Jee-rusalem!" exclaimed the skipper, taken aback by this naive
announcement. "Then, whaar in thunder did ye go?"

"Vait, and I vas tell yous," said the other calmly, going on with his
story in his own way. "Ven we vas zail vrom Guayaquil and vas at zee
zome days, Cap'en Shackzon zays to me, zays he, `I vas engage yous'--dat
vas me--`vor and bekos I vas vant a man dat I can droost, mit all dis
crew of gut-throat Sbaniards arount me. Can yous be zeegret and keep in
ze gonfidence vat I tells you?' In ze course, I vas zay to Cap'en
Shackzon `yase;' and, den--"

"What happened?" eagerly asked Captain Snaggs; "what happened?"

"We zails to ze norzard," continued Jan, provokingly, refraining from
disclosing at the moment the confidential communication he mentioned
having been made to him. "We vas zail vor dree more day, and den we vas
zee dat cap dere, dat Cap'en Shackzon vas zay is Cape Chalmers, and dat
ze lant vas Abingdon Islant vere we vas now vas; and den he vas tell me
his zeegret."

"An' thet wer what, eh, mister?" said the skipper, while all of us hung
on his words, breathless now with excitement, our curiosity being
aroused to the highest pitch. "Don't kep us a-waitin', thaar's a
friendly coon, fur I guess we air amost bustin' to haar what thet air
secret wer!"

"I beliefs zere vas no harms vor to tell?" observed the Dane
reflectively, as if cogitating the matter over in his own mind and
anxious to have another opinion to say whether or no his narration of
the circumstances would be any breach of the trust reposed in him.
"Cap'en Shackzon was det, and ze crew vas det, and zere vas nobozy dat
vas aboart ze schgooners dat vas alifes but meinselfs."

"Nary