Tunis Latham went down the track toward the port as the dull dawn glimmered behind him in a frame of mind so dismal and despairing that more than Sheila Macklin would have pitied the captain of the _Seamew_. Against the tide of emotions which now surged in his heart he scarcely had the energy to battle. Never had he felt less like approaching his usual tasks as commander and owner of the schooner and facing the trials he knew would meet him upon this coming trip to Boston. Freight was waiting upon Luiz Wharf, and he would be able to pick up the remainder of his cargo at Hollis, which, with the wind as it was now, he could reach that afternoon by four o'clock. Given good luck, he would warp into the T-wharf next day before nightfall. The uncertain point which troubled him most was the matter of the crew of the _Seamew_. The Portygees remaining with him--even Johnny Lark, the cook--had been in a most unhappy temper all the way back from Boston on the last trip. Tunis could depend upon Mate Chapin, Boatswain Newbegin, and 'Rion Latham himself to stick by the schooner. For, in spite of his quarreling and long tongue about a hoodoo, Tunis thought that his cousin was a man above any real fear of the very superstitions he talked about. But four men could not safely work the schooner to Boston, nor in season to keep his contract with the consignees of freight which the _Seamew_ carried. Troubled as he had been at Boston, and delayed, Tunis wished now that he had remained there even longer while he made search for and engaged a proper crew for the schooner. He had better, perhaps, have paid the fare of the Portygees back to Big Wreck Cove and so saved quarreling with them. When he had been about to leave the schooner the afternoon before, the foolish fellows had sent a spokesman to him asking if he was sure the _Seamew_ was not the old _Marlin B._, the Salem fishing craft which had been acclaimed "the murder ship" from the Banks to the Cape by all coasting seamen several years before. To answer this question rasped the pride of the owner of the _Seamew_. For a seaman to ask a question of one of the officers--a question of such a nature--was flaunting authority in any case. Although Captain Latham considered the question ridiculous and utterly unworthy of a serious answer, he had replied to it. He had told the sailor that to the best of his knowledge and belief the old _Marlin B._ was several thousand miles away from the Cape at that time, and that the _Seamew_ was herself and no other. In any case, he had said he had no personal fear of sailing in the schooner as long as he could keep a decent crew of seamen aboard her, but that he would stand for no more foolishness from his present crew.