the rescue of a distressed female; and, the second point, we shall
soon be on the seas, and I understand that on the fashionable
transatlantic lines it is now considered de rigueur to speak to
anybody you choose to. The introduction business isn't going to
stand in my way."

"Well, may I ask," put in Abeuchapeta, "just what it is that is
worrying you? You said something about feeding them, and dressing
them, and keeping them in bonnets. I fancy there's fish enough in
the sea to feed 'em; and as for their gowns and hats, they can make
'em themselves. Every woman is a milliner at heart."

"Exactly, and we'll have to pay the milliners. That is what bothers
me. I was going to lead this expedition to London, Paris, and New
York, admiral. That is where the money is, and to get it you've got
to go ashore, to headquarters. You cannot nowadays find it on the
high seas. Modern civilization," said Kidd, "has ruined the pirate's
business. The latest news from the other world has really opened my
eyes to certain facts that I never dreamed of. The conditions of the
day of which I speak are interestingly shown in the experience of our
friend Hawkins here. Captain Hawkins, would you have any objection
to stating to these gentlemen the condition of affairs which led you
to give up piracy on the high seas?"

"Not the slightest, Captain Kidd," returned Captain Hawkins, who was
a recent arrival in Hades. "It is a sad little story, and it gives
me a pain for to think on it, but none the less I'll tell it, since
you ask me. When I were a mere boy, fellow-pirates, I had but one
ambition, due to my readin', which was confined to stories of a
Sunday-school nater--to become somethin' different from the little