perhaps you may have other fruit?"

He came up to her and put down his basket. "I have bananas, but perhaps
you don't like them?"

"Oh, yes, I do!" she answered.

But, without offering to show her the fruit, Dickory continued:
"There's one thing I don't like, and that's the men on board your ship."

"What do you mean?" she asked, amazed.

"Speak lower," he said; and, as he spoke, he bethought himself that it
might be well to hold out towards her a couple of bananas.

"They're a bad, hard lot of men," he said. "I heard that from more than
one person. You ought not to stay on this ship."

"And what do you know about it, Mr. Impudence?" she asked, with brows
uplifted. "I suppose my father knows what is good for me."

"But he is not here," said Dickory.

Kate looked steadfastly at him. He did not seem as ruddy as he had been.
And then she looked out upon the forward deck, and the thought came to
her that when she had first noticed these men it had seemed to her that
they were, indeed, a rough, hard lot. Kate Bonnet was a brave girl, but
without knowing why she felt a little frightened.

"Your name is Dickory, isn't it?" she said.