I'll never understand it! There's been more waste on this twopenny

ship than what there is to an Atlantic Liner.' He stole a glance at his

companions; nothing good was to be gleaned from their dark faces; and he

had recourse to rage. 'You wait till I interview that cook!' he roared

and smote the table with his fist. 'I'll interview the son of a gun so's

he's never been spoken to before. I'll put a bead upon the--'

'You will not lay a finger on the man,' said Herrick. 'The fault is

yours and you know it. If you turn a savage loose in your store-room,

you know what to expect. I will not allow the man to be molested.'

It is hard to say how Davis might have taken this defiance; but he was

diverted to a fresh assailant.

'Well!' drawled Huish, 'you're a plummy captain, ain't you? You're a

blooming captain! Don't you, set up any of your chat to me, John Dyvis:

I know you now, you ain't any more use than a bloomin' dawl! Oh, you

don't know", don't you? Oh, it "gets you", do it? Oh, I dessay! W'y,

we en't you 'owling for fresh tins every blessed day? 'Ow often 'ave I

eard you send the 'ole bloomin' dinner off and tell the man to chuck it

in the swill tub? And breakfast? Oh, my crikey! breakfast for ten, and

you 'ollerin' for more! And now you "can't 'most tell"! Blow me, if it

ain't enough to make a man write an insultin' letter to Gawd! You dror

it mild, John Dyvis; don't 'andle me; I'm dyngerous.'

Davis sat like one bemused; it might even have been doubted if he heard,

but the voice of the clerk rang about the cabin like that of a cormorant

The Ebb-Tide