through the door to the deck. It was dim under that swinging lamp. It
is dark out here. The wind is bitter. The second mate stands hard by.

"How much water is in?" asks Corkey.

"Plenty," says the second mate.

"What have ye done?" asks Corkey.

"Captain's blind, stavin' drunk, and won't do nothin'."

"Nice picnic!" says Corkey.

"Nice picnic!" says the second mate, warming up.

It is midnight in the middle of Georgian Bay. There is a fall gale
such as comes only once in four or five years. In the morning there
will be three hundred wrecks on the great lakes--the most inhospitable
bodies of water in the world.

And of all stormy places let the sailor keep out of Georgian Bay.




CHAPTER XIII

OFF CAPE CROKER

Corkey has climbed to the upper deck and stands there alone in the