It was the lion and the mouse over again--the eagle
and the tom-tit--the bear and the rabbit. He must
have noticed my surprise and amusement, for he
added with a smile:

"Must have something. Gets pretty lonesome
sometimes when you have no wife nor children, and
there are none anywheres for me." He had withdrawn
his fingers now, and was buttoning his coat
close about his broad chest, his eyes still on the bird
that was splitting its little throat in a burst of song.

"But he's so small," I laughed. "I should think
you'd have a dog--seems nearer your size."

I once saw a man struck by a spent bullet. I
remember the sudden pallor, the half gasp, and the
expression of pain that followed. Then the man
uttered a cry. The same expression crossed the captain's
face, but there was no gasp and no cry; only
a straightening of the lips and a tightening-up of the
iron jaw. Then, without a word of any kind in
answer, he caught up his cap, swung back the door,
and with the wind full on his chest, breasted his way
to the bridge.

When the door swung open a moment later it
closed on the first officer--a square, thick-set, round-
headed man, with mild blue eyes set in a face framed
by a half-circle of reddish-brown whiskers, the face