From the forecastle of the _Shark_ there came the subdued though vehement sounds of a lively altercation. Heldstrom came swinging aft, scratching his curly, grizzled head. "Der bets is all mixed up, zir!" said he. "I don't know if I owe der cook ten dollars, or if he owes me fifteen!" CHAPTER XI For three days the _Shark_ beat stubbornly back and forth against a hard head-wind and a short, choppy sea, into which she drove her bows like a wedge, completely to check her way. The wind never exceeded the velocity which sailors call "a fresh gale," but it held dead ahead, appearing with devilish persistency to follow the bow around when the schooner tacked, hanging fiendishly on the end of her raking jib-boom. Nobody aboard particularly cared. The _Shark_, if slow, was the height of comfort, even in a sea-way, with very little angular heel, and no motion to speak of beyond the steady churning of her bows. In the cabin they read, and played bridge, and Bell went into the galley and made certain horrible messes which were, as usual, sent forward to the crew, but unfailingly fell overboard _en route_. Her two sisters had convinced Paula that she was free to marry the man she loved, whereupon Wood had formally requested her hand of Captain Bell, who most cordially gave his consent. This occasion was made one of general celebration fore and aft. At dinner, Bell grew genially mellow and made an excellent speech, after which the two young people appeared to fade gently from the popular view and find much service for secluded corners of the vessel. "At any rate," Bell observed, on the third day of the stubborn blow, "if we are not gettin' to wind'ard fast, it's comfortin' to know that the Pilot-fish is doin' even worse. The chances are he hasn't tackled it. A little boat that size couldn't get north a mile a day in this chop!" Had the worthy naval man known that at that particular moment Mr. Applebo was booming up the Delaware River with a fair wind and tide, bound for the entrance of the Raritan Canal, which would eventually drop him out at South Amboy, in the Lower Bay at New York, Bell's disgust might have led to an explosion dangerous to his health.