for mystery and perpetual motion. Women have views now they are no
longer content to be looked at merely; they must see for themselves;
and the more they see, the more they wish to domesticate man and
emancipate woman. It's my private opinion that if we are to get
along with them at all the best thing to do is to let 'em alone. I
have always found I was better off in the abstract, and if this
question is going to be settled in a purely democratic fashion by
submitting it to a vote, I'll vote for any measure which involves
leaving them strictly to themselves. They're nothing but a lot of
ghosts anyhow, like ourselves, and we can pretend we don't see them."

"If that could be, it would be excellent," said Morgan; "but it is
impossible. For a pirate of the Byronic order, my dear Conrad, you
are strangely unversed in the ways of the sex which cheers but not
inebriates. We can no more ignore their presence upon this boat than
we can expect whales to spout kerosene. In the first place, it would
be excessively impolite of us to cut them--to decline to speak to
them if they should address us. We may be pirates, ruffians,
cutthroats, but I hope we shall never forget that we are gentlemen."

"The whole situation is rather contrary to etiquette, don't you
think?" suggested Conrad. "There's nobody to introduce us, and I
can't really see how we can do otherwise than ignore them. I
certainly am not going to stand on deck and make eyes at them, to try
and pick up an acquaintance with them, even if I am of a Byronic
strain."

"You forget," said Kidd, "two essential features of the situation.
These women are at present--or shortly will be, when they realize
their situation--in distress, and a true gentleman may always fly to