"Cologne!" cried Bonny, incredulously, as he caught the word. "If these foreign kinds of grub are put up in Cologne, it's no wonder that I never heard of them before. Why, it's poison, that's what it is, and nothing less. Shall I heave the rest of the truck overboard, sir?" "Hold on!" cried Alaric, emerging with rueful face from the cabin in time to catch this suggestion. "It isn't in them. It was in my pocket all by itself." "I wish it had staid there, and you'd gone to Halifax with it afore ever ye brought the stuff aboard this ship!" thundered the Captain. "Avast, ye lubber! Don't come anigh me. Go out on the dock and air yourself." So the unhappy lad, his clothing saturated with cologne, betook himself to the wharf, where, as he slowly walked up and down, filling the air with perfume, he carefully removed bits of broken glass from his moist pocket, and disgustedly flung them overboard. While he was thus engaged, the first mate, under the Captain's personal supervision, was fumigating the cabin by burning in it a bunch of oakum over which was scattered a small quantity of tobacco. When the atmosphere of the place was thus so nearly restored to its normal condition that Captain Duff could again endure it, Bonny finished stowing the supplies, and then turned his attention to preparing supper. Meanwhile Alaric had been joined in his lonely promenade by a stranger, who, with a curious expression on his face as he drew near the lad, changed his position so as to get on the windward side, and then began a conversation. "Fine evening," he said. "Is it?" asked Alaric, moodily. "I think so. Do you belong on that sloop? Where does she run to from here?" "The Sound," answered Alaric, shortly. "What does she carry?" "Passengers and cargo." "Indeed? And may I ask what sort of a cargo?" "You may." "Well, then, what sort?" persisted the stranger. "Chinks and dope," returned Alaric, glancing up with the expectation of seeing a look of bewilderment on his questioner's face. But the latter only said: "Um! About what I thought. Paying business, isn't it?" "If it wasn't we wouldn't be in it," replied the boy. "No, I suppose not; and it must pay big since it enables even the cabin-boy to drench himself with perfumery." Ere Alaric could reply the stranger was walking rapidly away, and Bonny was calling him to supper. The first mate apologized for serving this meal on deck, but that Captain Duff objected to the crew's presence at his table on this occasion. "So," said Bonny, "I told him he might eat alone, then, for I should come out here and eat with you." "I hope he will always feel the same way," retorted Alaric, "for it doesn't seem as though I could possibly stay in that cabin long enough to eat a meal."