man turned on the Swede, and his voice was sharp and commanding.

"Swede, does the _Golden Bough_ sail to-morrow?"

"_Ja_, with da flood," the Swede answered.

"Then I ship in her," declared the man. "I ship in the _Golden Bough_,
Swede!"

It was the spark needed to fire my own resolution. What another dared,
I would dare. I thumped the bar with my fist and sang out valorously,
"I ship in her too, Swede!"

The Swede's needles stopped flashing in and out of the gray yarn. He
regarded us, one after the other, with his baby stare. Then he said to
the big man, "Vat if your frients ship by her?"

"I have no friends," was the curt answer.

The Swede leaned back on his stool, and his big belly quivered with his
wheezy laughter. "By Yimminy, Ay tank da _Golden Bough_ haf vun lively
voyage!" he exclaimed.




CHAPTER IV

We signed articles in the Swede's house, almost within the hour. A
little man with a pimply, bulbous nose appeared in the house; he