"Same t' you; an' don't get drunk this side o' Jersey City."

And with this admonition the captain drank his beer and thumped off for
the water front, satisfied that the village would hear nothing from Mr.
Donovan. Nevertheless, it was shameful to let a hundred go that easy;
twenty would have served. He was about to hail the skiff when he was
accosted by the quiet little man he had recently observed sitting alone
in the corner of Swan's office.

"Pardon, but you are Captain Flanagan of the yacht _Laura_?"

"Yessir," patiently. "But the owner never lets anybody aboard he don't
know, sir."

"I do not desire to come aboard, my Captain. What I wish to know is if
his excellency the admiral is at home."

"His excellency" rather confounded the captain for a moment; but he
came about without "takin' more'n a bucketful," as he afterward
expressed it to Halloran the engineer. "I knew right then he wus a
furriner; I know 'em. They ain't no excellencies in th' navy. But I
tells him that the commodore was snug in his berth up yonder, and with
that he looks to me like I wus a lady. I've seen him in Swan's at
night readin'; allus chasin' butterflies when he sees 'em in the
street." And the captain rounded out this period by touching his
forehead as a subtle hint that in his opinion the foreigner carried no
ballast.

In the intervening time the subject of this light suggestion was
climbing the hill with that tireless resiliant step of one born to