. ''Tis all right,
mister,' ses he. ''Tis all right here.' Ses I, 'I don't think, Mr.
Bruce, I don't think!' An' when I went down an' put me foot on those
piles of rope an' bolts of canvas, they went down, all soft, under me.
Ye understand? Oh, I knew there was somethin', rememberin' those
flighty women, an' the foc'sle bonnets blowin' off. The water had
rushed into the fore-peak, an' had driven the air up, ye see.

"Well, we put her full astern and drew away, and then we put back into
St. John, slow, dead slow, all the way. An' there the Second Engineer
saw a doctor, an' the one in the heliatrope blouse saw a ghost!"

"Ess, 'e come up be'ind 'er, an'----"

"Now, hold yer horses, Nicholas, hold yer horses! Ye see, Mr.
McAlnwick, when a woman has seen a man aboard of a ship, an' she's
seen that ship hull down, or, what's the same thing, swallowed up in
the fog, she writes him off, so to speak. 'Poor feller,' ses she,
'he's at sea,' just as we say, 'Poor feller, he's in the churchyard.'
An' so, when that woman felt someone touch her on the arm in Main
Street, and turned an' found it was the Second Engineer, she gave a
shriek like a lost soul, an' fainted on the sidewalk. So it happened.
Now listen. Help yourself, Nicholas.

"We had a wooden bow put on, which took a week, an' we started again.
Two days out it fell off, and we went back into St. John for the third
time, an' had another fitted. I took the opportunity then of havin' a
word with the Second, while we were makin' her fast. 'Mr. Carson,' ses
I, 'air ye satisfied?' He knew what I meant, for he came from
Carrickfergus, an' the Lady's Fever had him hard. 'Aye, mister,' ses
he. ''Tis all right; I'll see her no more,' ses he. An' our luck
turned. We had another bow fitted, an' we came across the Western
Ocean, half-speed, an' made her fast in the Canada Dock."

"Is that all, Mr. Honna?"

"No, no," says Nicholas, with another reminiscent giggle. "No, mister,
the Super, 'e comes down, an' 'e----"

"Hold yer horses, now, Nicholas; hold yer horses, and let Jack Honna
tell this yarn. Mr. McAlnwick, I said I'd show ye honesty as practised
in the Mercantile Marine. Now listen. The Super--that's Mr. Fallon, as
ye know--came down into my berth. 'Mornin', Honna'--ye know his way;
but he seemed anxious an' fidgety. Of course, I knew without tellin'
how she was insured. Ye see, mister, the _Lorenzo_ an' the _Julio_
an' the _Niccolo_ an' the _Benvenuto_ here are insured ag