My unknown friend here pulled out his watch and looked at it anxiously. "I wonder," he said, "whether you will consider me very rude if I propose to run away, and leave Captain Thomson to do the honours of the ship in my stead? I should like to remain with you; but the fact is that I have rather an important meeting to attend in the City; and I see that I have no time to lose if I am to be punctual. And Thomson really knows a great deal more about the ship than I do; consequently he will be able to give you more reliable information than I can." I of course begged that he would not put himself to the slightest inconvenience on my account, and expressed myself as being perfectly satisfied at being left in the hands of the skipper of the ship; whereupon he turned to Thomson and said-- "Let Mr Saint Leger see everything without reserve, Thomson; and tell him anything he wishes to know, if you please. We have no desire whatever to sell the ship by means of misrepresentation of any sort. Good-bye," he continued, turning to me, and offering his hand; "I hope we shall see you again, and be able to do business with you." He raised his hat, stepped briskly along the gang-plank, and was soon lost sight of in the crowd. "Who is that gentleman?" I inquired of Thomson, as the figure vanished. "That is Mr Musgrave, the junior partner of the firm, and as nice a gentleman as ever stepped," was the reply. "Have you been long in the employ?" was my next question. "For the last eighteen years--in fact, ever since I first took to the sea--and hope to end my days with them. They are now building a steamer for me; and as soon as this craft is sold I am to go and supervise the work upon her." "Ah," I remarked, "an excellent arrangement. And now, captain, tell me, as between man and man, have you ever discovered any faults in the _Esmeralda_--anything you would like to have had altered in her, had such alteration been possible? You have commanded her for some time, I suppose?" "Ever since she was launched," was the reply, "and a sweeter little vessel, in every way, doesn't float. As to faults, she has none, to my thinking. She is not a great cargo-carrier, it is true; in fact, her lines are so fine that the amount of her register tonnage, in dead weight, just puts her down to Plimsoll's mark. Some men would no doubt consider this a serious fault; but I do not, for what she wants in carrying capacity she more than makes up in speed; so that when the whole thing comes to be worked out, putting her earnings against her expenses, she carries her tonnage at a less cost than any other ship I happen to be acquainted with." "Is she tight?" I asked.