"Sure," said Keller. There was a touch of embarrassment in his tone as he faced Bronston. "I took your advice about this moustache of mine--clipped it close with the scissors and then gave myself the twice-over with your safety." His upper lip showed bare; the skin had a bleached look and was raw from the scraping it had just undergone. As Keller passed out of the room, caressing the place where his moustache had been, Bronston noted that Keller had made other changes in his person. Keller had exchanged the bright green tie which he wore at breakfast for a dull brown bow; and he had put on a lighter pair of shoes--patent-leather shoes, with thin soles and buttoned uppers. His broad-toed, heavy-soled pair showed under his bed where he had shoved them. * * * * * Conceding the weather to be fair, as in this instance it assuredly was, the majority of the passengers upon a big liner eastward bound give over their first day at sea to getting used to their new and strange surroundings, to getting lost in various odd corners of the ship and finding themselves again, to asking questions about baggage gone astray, to wondering why they are not seasick. As regards the two principal characters of this narrative, nothing of interest occurred during the first day except that Keller went below late in the afternoon to take a nap, and that shortly before dark, when he had waked, Bronston limped in with a look of pain upon his face, to report that while watching a lifeboat drill he had got a foot hurt. "A clumsy ass of a coal passer dropped his oar and hit me right on the big toe with the butt of it," he explained. "I didn't give him away, because the second officer was right there and I judged he would have given the poor devil fits for being so careless. But it hurts like the very mischief." He got his left shoe off and sat for a bit caressing the bruised member. "The skin isn't broken evidently," he continued, in response to Keller's inquiries concerning the extent of the injury; "but there's some swelling and plenty of soreness." He started to put his shoe back on his stockinged foot, but halted with a groan. "If you don't mind," he said to Keller, "I'm going to wear those heavy shoes of yours for a day or two. They're easier than mine and broader in the toe." "Help yourself," agreed Keller. "Seeing as we've swapped caps we might as well swap shoes too. Anyhow, I kind of like this pair I've got on, even if they do pinch a little." He contemplated his shining extremities admiringly. Shortly afterward they went up to dinner. After dinner Bronston found reason for returning to the stateroom. Here he did a strange thing. He dropped a pair of perfectly good shoes out of the porthole. * * * * *