"Oh, I guess you could," laughed Bonny. "Anyway, it will be all right by breakfast-time, for the smell is nearly gone now. But I say, Rick Dale, what an awfully funny fellow you are anyway! What made you pay for all that truck? It must have taken every cent you had." "So it did," replied Alaric. "But what of that? It was the easiest way to smooth things over that I knew of." "It wouldn't have been for me, then," rejoined Bonny, "for I haven't handled a dollar in so long that it would scare me to find one in my pocket. But why didn't you let them take back the things we didn't need?" "Because, having ordered them, we were bound to accept them, and I thought we needed them all. I'm awfully tired of such things myself, but I didn't know you were." "What, olives and mushrooms and truffles, and the rest of the things with queer names? I never tasted one of them in my life, and don't believe the Captain did, either." "That seems odd," reflected Alaric. "Doesn't it?" responded Bonny, quizzically. "And that cologne, too. What ever made you buy it?" "I don't know exactly. Because I happened to see it, I suppose, and thought it would be a useful thing to have along. A little of it is nice in your bath, you know, or to put on your handkerchief when you have a headache." "My stars!" exclaimed Bonny. "Listen to that, will you? Why, Rick, to hear you talk, one would think you were a prince in disguise, or a bloated aristocrat!" "Well, I'm not," answered Alaric, shortly. "I'm only a sailor on board the sloop _Fancy_, who has just eaten a fine supper and enjoyed it." "Have you, really?" asked the other, dubiously. "It didn't seem to me that just coffee without any milk, hard bread, and fried salt pork were very fine, and I was afraid that perhaps you wouldn't like 'em." "I do, though," insisted Alaric. "You see, I never tasted any of those things before, and they are first class." "Well," said Bonny, "I don't think much of such grub, and I've had it for more than a year, too; but then every one to his liking. Now I've got to notify our passengers, for we sail to-night. You may come with me and learn the ropes if you want to." "But we haven't any cargo aboard," objected Alaric. "Oh, that won't take long. A few minutes will fix the cargo all right." Alaric wondered what sort of a cargo could be taken aboard in a few minutes, but concluded to wait and see. Soon both lads went ashore and walked up into the town. Although it was now evening, Bonny did not seek the well-lighted business streets, but made his way to what struck Alaric as a peculiarly disreputable neighborhood. The houses were small and dingy, and their windows were so closely shuttered that no ray of light issued from them.