"_Ja_, you koom for a good time, and, by and by, a good ship," says he.
"Yoost trust the Swede--he treat you right."

So he sent my bag upstairs to a room, accepted my money for
safekeeping, and I set up the drinks for the house.

What? Give him my money for safekeeping? Of course. There was a code
of honor even in crimpdom, you know. I came to the Swede's house of my
own choosing; no runner of his snared me out of a ship. Therefore I
would be permitted to spend the last dollar of my pay-day, chiefly over
his bar, of course, and when the money was gone, he would ship me in a
ship of my own choosing. Unless, of course, men were exceptionally
scarce, and blood money exceptionally high. Crimpdom honor wouldn't
stand much temptation. But I was confident of my ability to look after
myself. I was a man of nineteen, you know.

So, at the Knitting Swede's I was lodged. I spent most of my first day
there in examining and getting acquainted with my fellow lodgers. Aye,
they were a crowd, quite in keeping with the repute of the house; hard
living, hard swearing, hard fighting A.B.'s, for the most part; the
unruly toughs of the five oceans. I swaggered amongst them and thought
myself a very devil of a fellow. I bought them drinks at the Swede's
bar, and listened with immense satisfaction to their loud comments on
my generosity. It was, "He's a fine lad, and no mistake!" and, "He's a
real proper bloke, for certain!" And I ordered up the rounds, and
swung my shoulders, and felt like a "real proper bloke" indeed.

Well, I saw one chap in the house who really attracted me. I should
liked to have chummed with him, and I went out of my way to be friendly
towards him. He was a regular giant of a man, with yellow hair and