"Vell, Scherry, mine friend, ven I looks in the Doitcher book, I vind it says ven a man vants zadisfaction, he pest get it by calling on his enemy und offering him schoice of arms, zo I kets down ter bistols of mine vrow's vater, und as I knowed, you see, der bistols vould be no goots mitout ter powder and balls, I shust brings tem, according to what is says in ter book; and," added the captain, with a grave shake of the head, "ter book vas right, you see, for I've got zadisfaction;" saying which he arose, and nodding solemnly to the party, stalked out of the room. "Is that the Cape style of getting satisfaction, friend Tomson?" demanded Jerry. "Possibly," laughed his friend. "The captain is contented, and so you may laugh at him. But what is that? Why, as I live, Schwartz is hunting for his pistols in our garden. Well, he's a harmless fellow, and evidently thought if he followed the book he would be doing the correct sort of thing under the circumstances." Thompson bade his kind entertainers good-bye, and proceeded on board his ship, and the next day told Clare of his adventure; but by some means Tom seemed to imagine that Jerry had been up to his old tricks, and consequently Mr. Schwartz had good grounds for challenging him. "I don't understand you, Jerry. First you say that the girl didn't know you, and then that her husband wanted to fight you because you made love to her." "Them's the facts, Tom, old man." "Why, how could he be jealous if she didn't know you?" "Why, you see, this is how the case stands. Captain Schwartz is a man who wants a good deal of time to calculate in. Now, this matter wanted settling at once, so he consulted a book, and being in a hurry, took the wrong receipt, and werry near got a thrashing for his pains." "Well, that may be so," replied Clare; "but I must say that my opinion is, you was both to blame, and I advise you to leave other men's wives alone, as no good never comes of it;" saying which Tom nodded to his friend and left his cabin. "What a world this is," thought the acting boatswain. "I only call upon an old flame in a friendly sort of way, when I get into a row with her wooden-headed husband, and my motives are wrong understood by my chum. Now, had I gone in for a regular fashionable high and mighty first-class flirtation, and offered to elope with her, or some such thundering foolishness, no one would have said a word. 'Pon my soul, I believe the straiter one keeps the worser one's off. Well, never mind; in a few weeks this voyage will be over, and then I'll marry Mary Ann Ross, and settle down into a respectable member of society, for we single men always gets blamed when we're innocent." [Illustration: Decoration] CHAPTER XXVI.