but I don't
think anyone ought to go right up country like you talk of doing without
having a doctor on board who could physic for fevers and stop holes and
plaster up cuts, and deal with damages generally. It wouldn't be fair."

"You would have such a person on board, captain, for I have studied
medicine and surgery, and practised for six years busily before I
succeeded unexpectedly to my property and title, and then determined to
see more of the world in which we live."

"H'm!" said the captain, looking from one to the other thoughtfully; "I
don't like knocking about in strange places begging for a cargo, and I
don't like driving my brig through the sea light in ballast. You've
took me at a weak time, sir."

"Stop!" said Sir Humphrey sternly. "I don't want to take advantage of
any man at a weak time and bribe him into undertaking a task over which
he would repent."

"I'm not that sort of chap, sir," said the captain shortly. "If I make
a bargain I stick to it, and I answer for my lads."

"That is what I want," said Sir Humphrey. "There are plenty of foreign
and native skippers that I could engage; but I want a staunch Englishman
whom my brother and I can look upon as a trusty friend: one who, if it
came to a pinch, would fight for us as we would fight for him: a good
sailor, patient, enterprising, but at the same time cautious and
thoughtful, while ready to take as well as give advice."

The captain smiled grimly at the younger man, and gave his head a jerk
in the direction of Sir Humphrey.

"He wants a good deal for his money, young gentleman," he said, "and I'm
afraid he won't get a skipper with all that stuff in him unless he has
him made to order. Look here, sir," he continued, turning upon Sir
Humphrey almost fiercely, "I'm a very ordinary sort of man, and I can't
strike a bargain with you, promising all sorts of things of that kind.
I've got a well-found vessel, and if there's water enough I can make my
crew sail her anywhere; but I've got a bit of a temper if people cut up
rough with me, and don't do their duty honest. That's all I can say, I
think. You want a superior sort of skipper altogether, and I don't like
you any the worse for that. We've had a very pleasant chat or two, and
it's been a pleasure to me to meet a couple of English gentlemen out
here, and there's no harm done. I wish you and your brother good luck."

"Stop!" said Sir Humphrey; "let us understand one another. You refuse