sort--'Has our brother Jenkins left us?'

"I don't know about his leaving us, says I, but we left him sure
enough in a burying-place there.

"'And how did you manage without him?'

"I made as good a shift as I could, I said. I have sold all the
cargo, and I have brought back a freight of six tons of Turkey figs,
and four hundred boxes of currants. And these two bags hold the
difference.

"'Have you brought the books with you, Captain?'

"Never a book, said I. I have had to navigate the ship and to look
after the crew, and do the best I could at each port. The books are
on board, made out up to the day before the supercargo was killed,
three months ago; but I have never had time to make an entry since.

"They looked at each other like owls for a minute or two, and then
they all began to talk at once. How had I sold the goods? had I
charged the prices mentioned in the invoice? what percentage had I
put on for profit? and a lot of other things. I waited until they
were all out of breath, and then I said I had not bothered about
invoices. I knew pretty well the prices such things cost in England.
I clapped on so much more for the expenses of the voyage and a fair
profit. I could tell them what I had paid for the figs and the
currants, and for some bags of Smyrna sponges I had bought, but as to
the prices I had charged, it was too much to expect that I could
carry them in my head. All I knew was I had paid for the things I had