"Whe-e-ew! What did the man say to that?"

"Why, he smiled a bit, and a'ter that he seemed more cur'ous than
ever to hear all about it. I told him my third v'y'ge was to Canton,
with a cargo of broom-corn, where we took in salmon and dun-fish for
home. A'ter that we went to Norway with ice, and brought back silks
and money. Our next run was to the Havana, with salt and 'nips--"

"'Nips! what the devil be they?"

"Turnips, you knows, sir. We always calls 'em 'nips in cargo. At the
Havana I told him we took in leather and jerked beef, and came home.
Oh! he got nothin' from me, Capt. Spike, that'll ever do the brig a
morsel of harm!"

"I am glad of that, Jack. You must know enough of the seas to
understand that a close mouth is sometimes better for a vessel than
a clean bill of health. Was there nothing said about the
revenue-steamer?"

"Now you name her, sir, I believe there was--ay, ay, sir, the
gentleman did say, if the steamer fetched up to the westward of the
fort, that he should overhaul her without difficulty, on this flood.

"That'll do, Jack; that'll do, my honest fellow. Go below, and tell
Josh to take you into the cabin again, as steward's mate. You're
rather too Dutch built, in your old age, to do much aloft."

One can hardly say whether Jack received this remark as
complimentary, or not. He looked a little glum, for a man may be as