The up-stairs was entered by a ladder. There was nothing better to be done than to sleep in wet clothes; and Charley, on his grass mat, was just beginning to be drowsy and fairly comfortable, and barely heard his father say to Mr. Grigsby: "We ought to pull out at daybreak, but that depends on what we can do for the captain," when the captain himself came poking up through the hole in the floor. "Hello!" he said. "It's Crosby. Are you awake?" "Yes, sir. What's wanted?" "Nothing, thank you. I suppose you'd like to get away early." "As early as possible, captain. But we're at your service." "Your time is valuable now, gentlemen. Mine isn't. If you're going to catch the _California_, you haven't a moment to waste." "We'll miss the _California_, rather than leave you in the lurch." "You'll not miss her, if you make an early start and go right on through. I told you you wouldn't lose by your kindness to my mate and me, and you won't. I stay here; you go on whenever you choose." "No, sir," said Mr. Adams. "If we can help you any we'll stay by you." "I stop here," announced the captain. "As for my mate, he stops, too. He'll never travel again. Tomorrow I bury him. He's gone, making his last trip, and I expect he's landed in a better port than _California_. What I do next I don't know. Go back to Chagres, maybe. At any rate, here's his ticket from Panama up to San Francisco." By the flicker of the storm, now retreating, Captain Crosby was revealed groping across the floor, and extending a folded paper. "What's that for?" demanded Mr. Adams. "You're to take it and use it. Sell it, is my advice. You can get six hundred or more dollars for it, at Panama." "I'll take and sell it, if you say so; but I'll send you the money. Your friend's family ought to have that."