“Why, this plan of ours. I thought when we fellers give up goin' to sea reg'lar and settled down here to keep house ourselves and live economical and all that, that 'twas goin' to be fine. I thought I wouldn't mind doin' my share of the work a bit, thought 'twould be kind of fun to swab decks and all that. Well, 'twas for a spell, but 'tain't now. I'm so sick of it that I don't know what to do. And I'm sick of livin' in a pigpen, too. Look at them dead-lights! They're so dirty that when I turn out in the mornin' and go to look through 'em, I can't tell whether it's foul weather or fair.” Captain Eri looked at the windows toward which his friend pointed and signed assent. “There's no use talkin',” he observed, “we've got to have a steward aboard this craft.” “Yes,” said Captain Perez emphatically, “a steward or a woman.” “A WOMAN!” exclaimed Captain Eri. Then he shook his head solemnly and added, “There, Jerry! What did I tell you? M'lissy!” But Captain Perez did not smile. “I ain't foolin',” he said; “I mean it.” Captain Jerry thought of the spick-and-span days of his wife, dead these twenty years, and sighed again. “I s'pose we might have a housekeeper,” he said. “Housekeeper!” sneered Captain Eri. “Who'd you hire? Perez don't, seemin'ly, take to M'lissy, and there ain't nobody else in Orham that you could git, 'less 'twas old A'nt Zuby Higgins, and that would be actin' like the feller that jumped overboard when his boat sprung a leak. No, sir! If A'nt Zuby ships aboard here I heave up MY commission.” “Who said anything about A'nt Zuby or housekeepers either?” inquired Captain Perez. “I said we'd got to have a woman, and we have. One of us 'll have to git married, that's all.” “MARRIED!” roared the two in chorus. “That's what I said, married, and take the others to board in this house. Look here now! When a shipwrecked crew's starvin' one of 'em has to be sacrificed for the good of the rest, and that's what we've got to do. One of us has got to git married for the benefit of the other two.” Captain Eri shouted hilariously. “Good boy, Perez!” he cried. “Goin' to be the first offerin'?” “Not unless it's my luck, Eri. We'll all three match for it, same as we do 'bout washin' the dishes.” “Where are you goin' to find a wife?” asked Captain Jerry. “Now that's jest what I'm goin' to show you. I see how things was goin', and I've been thinkin' this over for a consid'rable spell. Hold on a minute till I overhaul my kit.” He went into the front bedroom, and through the open door they could see him turning over the contents of the chest with P. R. in brass nails on the lid. He scattered about him fish-lines, hooks, lead for sinkers, oilcloth jackets, whales' teeth, and various other articles, and at length came back bearing a much-crumpled sheet of printed paper. This he spread out upon the dining table, first pushing aside the dishes to make room, and, after adjusting his spectacles, said triumphantly: