The other seemed to turn this over in his mind, and then said, "Ye'd best see him here. He'll mebbe no be long." "Then I'll wait. What time do you expect to clear out?" "We'll know when the old man comes." "Perhaps you would let me see the rooms, while I'm waiting." The dark man turned slowly and went down three steps into the small main cabin. His leisurely manner suggested no more than a willingness not to be disobliging. It was a fair-sized room, with a grated skylight overhead, portholes at the sides, seats and lockers below them, and a table with wooden forms to sit on. At the far end were two more doors. "Cap'n's bunk and mine," said his guide, with a roll of the head towards the left-hand door, and opened the other for Wulfrey to look in at the narrow passage off which opened two small sleeping-rooms. "You are then----?" asked Wulfrey. "Mate." "You're Scotch, aren't you? I took you at first sight for a foreigner." "I'm frae the Islands.... Some folks hold there's mixed blood in some of us since the times when the Spaniards were wrecked there. Mebbe! I d'n know." "And Captain Bain? He's Scotch too, I judge, by his name." "Ay, he's Scotch--Glesca." "If he'll take me as passenger I'll be glad. This would suit me uncommonly well." "Ay, well. He'll say when he comes," and whenever his black eyes rested on Wulfrey they seemed to be questioning what it could be that made him wish to travel on a trading-brig rather than on a passenger-liner. However, he asked no questions but pulled out a black clay pipe, and Wulfrey pulled out his own and anticipated the other's search for tobacco by handing him his pouch. They had sat silently smoking for but a few minutes when a heavy foot was heard on the deck outside, and there came a gruff call for "Macro!" "Ay, ay, sir!" and the doorway darkened with the short burly figure of a man whose words preceded him, "Tom Crimp'll have 'em all here by ten o'clock an' we'll---- Wha the deevil's this?" "Wants to go passenger to Boston," explained the mate, and left Wulfrey to his own negotiations. "If you're open to take a passenger, Captain Bain, I've fallen in love with the looks of your ship." "What for d'ye no want to go in a passenger-ship? We're no a passenger-ship," and the Captain eyed him suspiciously. "Just that I dislike travelling with a crowd, I've been looking round for some days and your ship pleases me better than any I've seen." "Where are you from, and what's your name and rating!" "I'm from Cheshire. Name, Wulfrey Dale. Rating, Doctor." "An' what for are ye wanting to go to Boston!" "I'm going out to look round. I may settle out there if I find any place I like." "Are ye in trouble? Poisoned ony one? Resurrectionist, mebbe?" "Neither one nor the other. I've no work here. I'm going to look for some over there." "Can ye pay?" "Of course. I'm not asking you to take me out of charity." "That's a guid thing."