partner in his hammock. Out upon such chummies!

But I appeal to thee, honest Jarl, if I was ever chummy the cunning.
Never mind if thou didst fabricate my tarpaulins; and with Samaritan
charity bind up the rents, and pour needle and thread into the
frightful gashes that agonized my hapless nether integuments, which
thou calledst "ducks;"--Didst thou not expressly declare, that all
these things, and more, thou wouldst do for me, despite my own quaint
thimble, fashioned from the ivory tusk of a whale? Nay; could I even
wrest from thy willful hands my very shirt, when once thou hadst it
steaming in an unsavory pickle in thy capacious vat, a decapitated
cask? Full well thou knowest, Jarl, that these things are true; and I
am bound to say it, to disclaim any lurking desire to reap advantage
from thy great good nature.

Now my Viking for me, thought I, when I cast about for a comrade; and
my Viking alone.



CHAPTER IV
A Chat In The Clouds


The Skyeman seemed so earnest and upright a seaman, that to tell the
plain truth, in spite of his love for me, I had many misgivings as to
his readiness to unite in an undertaking which apparently savored of
a moral dereliction. But all things considered, I deemed my own
resolution quite venial; and as for inducing another to join me, it
seemed a precaution so indispensable, as to outweigh all other