th a son of Belial for the last half-hour."

"Bargee," said the son of Belial, in a dispassionate voice.

"Don't take no notice of him, Ted," said the skipper, pityingly.

"He wasn't talking to me," said Ted. "But never mind about him; I want
to speak to you in private."

"Fire away, my lad," said the other, in a patronizing voice.

"Speak up," said the voice from the schooner, encouragingly. "I'm
listening."

There was no reply from the bargee. The master led the way to the cabin,
and lighting a lamp, which appealed to more senses than one, took a seat
on a locker, and again requested the other to fire away.

"Well, you see, it's this way," began the mate, with a preliminary
wriggle: "there's a certain young woman--"

"A certain young what?" shouted the master of the Arabella.

"Woman," repeated the mate, snappishly; "you've heard of a woman afore,
haven't you? Well, there's a certain young woman I'm walking out
with I--"

"Walking out?" gasped the skipper. "Why, I never 'eard o' such a
thing."

"You would ha' done if you'd been better looking, p'raps," retorted the
other. "Well, I've offered this young woman to come for a trip with us."

"Oh, you have, 'ave you!" said the skipper, sharply. "And what do you
think Louisa will say to it?"

"That's your look out," said Louisa's brother, cheerfully. "I'll make
her up a bed for'ard, and we'll all be as happy as you please."

He started suddenly. The mate of the schooner was indulging in a series
of whistles of the most amatory description.

"There she is," he said. "I told her to wait outside."

He ran upon deck, and his perturbed brother-in-law, following at his
leisure, was just in time to see him descending the ladder with a young
woman and a small handbag.

"This is my brother-in-law, Cap'n Gibbs," said Ted, introducing the new
arrival; "smartest man at a barge on the river."

The girl extended a neatly gloved hand, shook the skipper's affably, and
looked wonderingly about her.

"It's very close to the water, Ted," she said, dubiously.

The skipper coughed. "We don't take passengers as a rule," he said,
awkwardly; "we 'ain't got much convenience for them."

"Never mind," said the girl, kindly; "I sha'nt expect too much."

She turned away, and following the mate down to the cabin, went into
ecstasies over the space-saving contrivances she found there. The
drawers fitted in the skipper's bunk were a source of particular
interest, a