sea reg'lar and settled down here to keep house ourselves and live
economical and all that, that 'twas goin' to be fine. I thought I
wouldn't mind doin' my share of the work a bit, thought 'twould be kind
of fun to swab decks and all that. Well, 'twas for a spell, but 'tain't
now. I'm so sick of it that I don't know what to do. And I'm sick of
livin' in a pigpen, too. Look at them dead-lights! They're so dirty that
when I turn out in the mornin' and go to look through 'em, I can't tell
whether it's foul weather or fair."

Captain Eri looked at the windows toward which his friend pointed and
signed assent.

"There's no use talkin'," he observed, "we've got to have a steward
aboard this craft."

"Yes," said Captain Perez emphatically, "a steward or a woman."

"A WOMAN!" exclaimed Captain Eri. Then he shook his head solemnly and
added, "There, Jerry! What did I tell you? M'lissy!"

But Captain Perez did not smile.

"I ain't foolin'," he said; "I mean it."

Captain Jerry thought of the spick-and-span days of his wife, dead these
twenty years, and sighed again. "I s'pose we might have a housekeeper,"
he said.

"Housekeeper!" sneered Captain Eri. "Who'd you hire? Perez don't,
seemin'ly, take to M'lissy, and there ain't nobody else in Orham that