wot he has done to me!"

At that moment a light appeared above as the hatch was
raised, and Billy saw the feet and legs of a large man descending
the ladder from above. When the newcomer reached the
floor and turned to look about his eyes met Billy's, and Billy
saw that it was his host of the previous evening.

"Well, my hearty, how goes it?" asked the stranger.

"You pulled it off pretty slick," said Billy.

"What do you mean?" asked the other with a frown.

"Come off," said Billy; "you know what I mean."

"Look here," replied the other coldly. "Don't you forget
that I'm mate of this ship, an' that you want to speak
respectful to me if you ain't lookin' for trouble. My name's
MR. Ward, an' when you speak to me say SIR. Understand?"

Billy scratched his head, and blinked his eyes. He never
before had been spoken to in any such fashion--at least not
since he had put on the avoirdupois of manhood. His head
ached horribly and he was sick to his stomach--frightfully
sick. His mind was more upon his physical suffering than
upon what the mate was saying, so that quite a perceptible
interval of time elapsed before the true dimensions of the
affront to his dignity commenced to percolate into the befogged
and pain-racked convolutions of his brain.