barque? You beat 'm mit de _Hilda_, _nichtwahr_?"

"Well, no," said our old man. "I don't exactly say I beat the
_Rickmers_, but if I had the luck o' winds that ye had, bedad, I'd
crack th' _Hilda_ out in a hundred an' five days too!"

"Now, dot is not drue, Cabtin! _Aber ganz und gar nicht_! You know
you haf bedder look von de vind as Ah got. Ah sail mein sheep! Ah
dond't vait for de fair winds nor not'ings!"

"No," said Burke, "but ye get 'em, all the same. Everybody knows ye've
th' divil's own luck, Schenke!"

"Und so you vas! Look now, Cabtin Burke. You t'nk you got so fast a
sheep as mein, eh? Veil! Ah gif you a chanst to make money. Ah bet
you feefty dollars to tventig, Ah take mein sheep home quicker as you
vass!"

"Done wit' ye," said stout old 'Paddy' Burke, though well he know the
big German barque could sail round the little _Hilda_. "Fifty dollars
to twenty, Captain Schenke, an' moind y've said it!"

The green boat sheered off and forged ahead, Schenke laughing and
waving his hand derisively. When they had pulled out of earshot, the
old man turned ruefully to the mate: "Five pounds clean t'rown away,
mister! Foine I know the _Rickmers_ can baate us, but I wasn't goin'
t' let that ould 'squarehead' have it all his own way! Divil th' fear!"

We swung under the _Hilda's_ stern and hooked on to the gangway. The
old man stepped out, climbed a pace or two, then came back.