n and called softly:--

"Rosey!"

"What is it, father?" said Rosey's voice from the little state-room on
the right--Rosey's own bower.

"Nothing!" said Mr. Nott, with an affectation of languid calmness; "I
only wanted to know if you was comfortable. It's an awful busy night
in town."

"Yes, father."

"I reckon thar's tons o' gold goin' to the States tomorrow."

"Yes, father."

"Pretty comfortable, eh?"

"Yes, father."

"Well, I'll browse round a spell, and turn in myself, soon."

"Yes father."

Mr. Nott took down a hanging lantern, lit it, and passed out into the
gangway. Another lamp hung from the companion hatch to light the
tenants to the lower deck, whence he descended. This deck was divided
fore and aft by a partitioned passage,--the lofts or apartments being
lighted from the ports, and one or two by a door cut through the ship's
side communicating with an alley on either side. This was the case
with the loft occupied by Mr. Nott's strange lodger, which, besides a
door in the passage, had this independent communication with the alley.
Nott had never known him to make use of the latter door; on the
contrary, it was his regular habit to issue from his apartment at three
o'clock every afternoon, dressed as he has been described, stride
deliberately through the passage to the upper deck and thence into the
street, where his strange figure was a feature of the principal
promenade for two or three hours, returning as regularly at eight
o'clock to the ship and the seclusion of his loft. Mr. Nott paused
before the door, under the pretence of throwing the light before him
into the shadows of the forecastle; all was silent within. He was
turning back when he was impressed by the regular recurrence of a
peculiar rustling sound which he had at first referred to the rubbing
of the wires of the swinging lantern against his clothing. He set down
the light and listened; the sound was evidently on the other side of
the partition; the sound of some prolonged, rustling, scraping
movement, with regular intervals. Was it due to another of Mr. Nott's
unprofitable tenants--the rats? No. A bright idea flashed upon Mr.
Nott's troubled mind. It was de Ferrieres snoring! He smiled grimly.
"Wonder if Rosey'd call him a gentleman if she heard that," he chuckled
to himself as he slowly made his way back to the cabin and the small
state-room opposite to his daughter's. During the rest of the night he
dreamed of being