gruff singing of some drunken
sailor coming from a narrow side street near by, no sound disturbed the
somewhat lugubrious silence of this weird and forsaken spot.

"Pausing an instant before entering, I glanced up at the building, which
was about three stories high, and endeavored to see what there was about
it which had once arrested my attention, and came to the conclusion that
it was its exceptional situation on the dock, and the ghostly effect of
the hoisting-beam projecting from the upper story like a gibbet. And yet
this beam was common to many a warehouse in the vicinity, though in none
of them were there any such signs of life as proceeded from the curious
mixture of sail loft, boat shop and drinking saloon, now before me.
Could it be that the ban of criminality was upon the house, and that I
had been conscious of this without being able to realize the cause of my
interest?

"Not stopping to solve my sensations further, I tried the door, and,
finding it yield easily to my touch, turned the knob and entered. For
a moment I was blinded by the smoky glare of the heated atmosphere
into which I stepped, but presently I was able to distinguish the vague
outlines of an oyster bar in the distance, and the motionless figures
of some half dozen men, whose movements had been arrested by my sudden
entrance. For an instant this picture remained; then the drinking and
card-playing were resumed, and I stood, as it were, alone on the sanded
floor near the door. Improving the opportunity for a closer inspection
of the place, I was struck by its picturesqueness. It had evidently been
once used as a ship chandlery, and on the walls, which were but partly
plastered, there still hung old bits of marlin, rusty rings and such
other evidences of former traffic as did not interfere with the present
more lucrative business.

"Below were the two bars, one at the right of the door, and the other
at the lower end of the room near a window, through whose small, square
panes I caught a glimpse of the colored lights of a couple of ferry
boats, passing each other in midstream.

"At a table near me sat two men, grumbling at each other over a game of
cards. They were large and powerful figures in the contracted space
of this long and narrow room, and my heart gave a bound of joy as I
recognized on them certain marks by which I was to know friend from foe
in this possible den of thieves and murderers.

"Two sailors at the bar were bona fide h