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"An' thus 'ull be the loddie," the skipper said, reaching out a

hesitant hand to the child's cheek.
But the boy drew away from him, sheltering against the mother's

side.
"Och!" she cried, "and he doesna know his own father."

"Nor I hum. Heaven knows I could no a-picked hum out of a crowd,
though he'll be havin' your nose I'm thunkun'."

"An' your own eyes, Donald. Look ut them. He's your own father,
laddie. Kiss hum like the little mon ye are."

But the child drew closer to her, his expression of fear and
distrust growing stronger, and when the father attempted to take

him in his arms he threatened to cry.
The skipper straightened up, and to conceal the pang at his heart

he drew out his watch and looked at it.
"Ut's time to go, Annie," he said. "Thot train 'ull be startun'."

He was silent on the train at first, divided between watching the
wife with the child going to sleep in her arms and looking out of

the window at the tilled fields and green unforested hills vague
and indistinct in the driving drizzle that had set in. They had

the compartment to themselves. When the boy slept she laid him out
on the seat and wrapped him warmly. And when the health of

relatives and friends had been inquired after, and the gossip of
Island McGill narrated, along with the weather and the price of

land and crops, there was little left to talk about save
themselves, and Captain MacElrath took up the tale brought home for

the good wife from all his world's-end wandering. But it was not a
tale of marvels he told, nor of beautiful flower-lands nor

mysterious Eastern cities.
"What like is Java?" she asked once.

"Full o' fever. Half the crew down wuth ut an' luttle work. Ut
was quinine an' quinine the whole blessed time. Each marnun' 'twas

quinine an' gin for all hands on an empty stomach. An' they who
was no sick made ut out to be hovun' ut bad uz the rest."

Another time she asked about Newcastle.
"Coals an' coal-dust - thot's all. No a nice sutty. I lost two

Chinks there, stokers the both of them. An' the owners paid a fine
tull the Government of a hundred pounds each for them. 'We regret

tull note,' they wrut me - I got the letter tull Oregon - 'We
regret tull note the loss o' two Chinese members o' yer crew ot

Newcastle, an' we recommend greater carefulness un the future.'
Greater carefulness! And I could no a-been more careful. The

Chinks hod forty-five pounds each comun' tull them in wages, an' I
was no a-thunkun' they 'ud run.

"But thot's their way - 'we regret tull note,' 'we beg tull
advise,' 'we recommend,' 'we canna understand' - an' the like o'

thot. Domned cargo tank! An' they would thunk I could drive her
like a Lucania, an' wi'out burnun' coals. There was thot

propeller. I was after them a guid while for ut. The old one was
iron, thuck on the edges, an' we couldna make our speed. An' the

new one was bronze - nine hundred pounds ut cost, an' then wantun'
their returns out o' ut, an' me wuth a bod passage an' lossin' time

every day. 'We regret tull note your long passage from Voloparaiso
tull Sydney wuth an average daily run o' only one hundred an'

suxty-seven. We hod expected better results wuth the new
propeller. You should a-made an average daily run o' two hundred

and suxteen.'
"An' me on a wunter passage, blowin' a luvin' gale half the time,

wuth hurricane force in atweenwhiles, an' hove to sux days, wuth
engines stopped an' bunker coal runnun' short, an' me wuth a mate

thot stupid he could no pass a shup's light ot night wi'out callun'
me tull the brudge. I wrut an' told 'em so. An' then: 'Our

nautical adviser" target="_blank" title="n.顾问 =advisor">adviser suggests you kept too far south,' an' 'We are
lookun' for better results from thot propeller.' Nautical adviser" target="_blank" title="n.顾问 =advisor">adviser!

- shore pilot! Ut was the regular latitude for a wunter passage
from Voloparaiso tull Sydney.

"An' when I come un tull Auckland short o' coal, after lettun' her
druft sux days wuth the fires out tull save the coal, an' wuth only

twenty tons in my bunkers, I was thunkun' o' the lossin' o' time
an' the expense, an' tull save the owners I took her un an' out

wi'out pilotage. Pilotage was no compulsory. An' un Yokohama, who
should I meet but Captun Robinson o' the Dyapsic. We got a-talkun'

about ports an' places down Australia-way, an' first thing he says:
'Speakun' o' Auckland - of course, Captun, you was never un

Auckland?' 'Yus,' I says, 'I was un there very recent.' 'Oh, ho,'
he says, very angry-like, 'so you was the smart Aleck thot fetched

me thot letter from the owners: "We note item of fufteen pounds
for pilotage ot Auckland. A shup o' ours was un tull Auckland

recently an' uncurred no such charge. We beg tull advise you thot
we conseeder thus pilotage an onnecessary expense which should no

be uncurred un the future.'"
"But dud they say a word tull me for the fufteen pounds I saved

tull them? No a word. They send a letter tull Captun Robinson for
no savun' them the fufteen pounds, an' tull me: 'We note item of

two guineas doctor's fee at Auckland for crew. Please explain thus
onusual expunditure.' Ut was two o' the Chinks. I was thunkun'

they hod beri-beri, an' thot was the why o' sendun' for the doctor.
I buried the two of them ot sea not a week after. But ut was:

'Please explain thus onusual expunditure,' an' tull Captun
Robinson, 'We beg tull advise you thot we conseeder thus pilotage

an onnecessary expense.'
"Dudna I cable them from Newcastle, tellun' them the old tank was

thot foul she needed dry-dock? Seven months out o' drydock, an'
the West Coast the quickest place for foulun' un the world. But

freights was up, an' they hod a charter o' coals for Portland. The
Arrata, one o' the Woor Line, left port the same day uz us, bound

for Portland, an' the old Tryapsic makun' sux knots, seven ot the
best. An' ut was ot Comox, takun' un bunker coal, I got the letter

from the owners. The boss humself hod signed ut, an' ot the bottom
he wrut un hus own bond: 'The Arrata beat you by four an' a half

days. Am dusappointed.' Dusappointed! When I had cabled them
from Newcastle. When she drydocked ot Portland, there was whuskers

on her a foot long, barnacles the size o' me fust, oysters like
young sauce plates. Ut took them two days afterward tull clean the

dock o' shells an' muck.
"An' there was the motter o' them fire-bars ot Newcastle. The firm

ashore made them heavier than the engineer's speecifications, an'
then forgot tull charge for the dufference. Ot the last moment,

wuth me ashore gettun' me clearance, they come wuth the bill:
'Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds.' They'd been tull the shup

an' MacPherson hod O.K.'d ut. I said ut was strange an' would no
pay. 'Then you are dootun' the chief engineer,' says they. 'I'm

no dootun',' says I, 'but I canna see my way tull sign. Come wuth
me tull the shup. The launch wull cost ye naught an' ut 'ull brung

ye back. An' we wull see what MacPherson says.'
"But they would no come. Ot Portland I got the bill un a letter.

I took no notice. Ot Hong-Kong I got a letter from the owners.
The bill hod been sent tull them. I wrut them from Java

explainun'. At Marseilles the owners wrut me: 'Tull extra work un
engine-room, sux pounds. The engineer has O.K.'d ut, an' you have

no O.K.'d ut. Are you dootun' the engineer's honesty?' I wrut an'
told them I was no dootun' his honesty; thot the bill was for extra

weight o' fire-bars; an' thot ut was O.K. Dud they pay ut? They
no dud. They must unvestigate. An' some clerk un the office took

sick, an' the bill was lost. An' there was more letters. I got
letters from the owners an' the firm -'Tull error on fire-bars, sux

pounds' - ot Baltimore, ot Delagoa Bay, ot Moji, ot Rangoon, ot
Rio, an' ot Montevuddio. Ut uz no settled yut. I tell ye, Annie,

the owners are hard tull please."
He communed with himself for a moment, and then muttered

indignantly: "Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds."
"Hov ye heard of Jamie?" his wife asked in the pause.

Captain MacElrath shook his head.
"He was washed off the poop wuth three seamen."

"Whereabouts?"
"Off the Horn. 'Twas on the Thornsby."

"They would be runnun' homeward bound?"
"Aye," she nodded. "We only got the word three days gone. His

wife is greetin' like tull die."
"A good lod, Jamie," he commented, "but a stiff one ot carryun' on.

I mind me when we was mates together un the Abion. An' so Jamie's
gone."

Again a pause fell, to be broken by the wife.
"An' ye will no a-heard o' the Bankshire? MacDougall lost her in

Magellan Straits. 'Twas only yesterday ut was in the paper."
"A cruel place, them Magellan Straits," he said. "Dudna thot

domned mate-fellow nigh putt me ashore twice on the one passage
through? He was a eediot, a lunatuc. I wouldna have hum on the

brudge a munut. Comun' tull Narrow Reach, thuck weather, wuth snow
squalls, me un the chart-room, dudna I guv hum the changed course?

'South-east-by-east,' I told hum. 'South-east-by-east, sir,' says
he. Fufteen munuts after I comes on tull the brudge. 'Funny,'

says thot mate-fellow, 'I'm no rememberun' ony islands un the mouth
o' Narrow Reach. I took one look ot the islands an' yells, 'Putt

your wheel hard a-starboard,' tull the mon ot the wheel. An' ye
should a-seen the old Tryapsic turnun' the sharpest circle she ever

turned. I waited for the snow tull clear, an' there was Narrow
Reach, nice uz ye please, tull the east'ard an' the islands un the

mouth o' False Bay tull the south'ard. 'What course was ye
steerun'?' I says tull the mon ot the wheel. 'South-by-east, sir,'

says he. I looked tull the mate-fellow. What could I say? I was
thot wroth I could a-kult hum. Four points dufference. Five

munuts more an' the old Tryapsic would a-been funushed.
"An' was ut no the same when we cleared the Straits tull the

east'ard? Four hours would a-seen us guid an' clear. I was forty
hours then on the brudge. I guv the mate his course, an' the

bearun' o' the Askthar Light astern. 'Don't let her bear more tull
the north'ard than west-by-north,' I said tull hum, 'an' ye wull be

all right.' An' I went below an' turned un. But I couldna sleep
for worryun'. After forty hours on the brudge, what was four hours

more? I thought. An' for them four hours wull ye be lettun' the
mate loss her on ye? 'No,' I says to myself. An' wuth thot I got

up, hod a wash an' a cup o' coffee, an' went tull the brudge. I
took one look ot the bearun' o' Askthar Light. 'Twas nor'west-by-

west, and the old Tryapsic down on the shoals. He was a eediot,
thot mate-fellow. Ye could look overside an' see the duscoloration

of the watter. 'Twas a close call for the old Tryapsic I'm tellun'
ye. Twice un thirty hours he'd a-hod her ashore uf ut hod no been

for me."
Captain MacElrath fell to gazing at the sleeping child with mild

wonder in his small blue eyes, and his wife sought to divert him
from his woes.

"Ye remember Jummy MacCaul?" she asked. "Ye went tull school wuth
hus two boys. Old Jummy MacCaul thot hoz the farm beyond Doctor

Haythorn's place."
"Oh, aye, an' what o' hum? Uz he dead?"

"No, but he was after askun' your father, when he sailed last time
for Voloparaiso, uf ye'd been there afore. An' when your father

says no, then Jummy says, 'An' how wull he be knowun a' tull find
hus way?' An' with thot your father says: 'Verry sumple ut uz,

Jummy. Supposun' you was goin' tull the mainland tull a mon who
luved un Belfast. Belfast uz a bug sutty, Jummy, an' how would ye

be findun' your way?' 'By way o' me tongue,' says Jummy; 'I'd be
askun' the folk I met.' 'I told ye ut was sumple,' says your

father. 'Ut's the very same way my Donald finds the road tull
Voloparaiso. He asks every shup he meets upon the sea tull ot last

he meets wuth a shup thot's been tull Voloparaiso, an' the captun
o' thot shup tells hum the way.' An' Jummy scratches hus head an'

says he understands an' thot ut's a very sumple motter after all."
The skipper chuckled at the joke, and his tired blue eyes were

merry for the moment.
"He was a thun chap, thot mate-fellow, oz thun oz you an' me putt



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