“So it’s you yourself, Mr. Gore,” he bawled, “just turned up while this red-headed heathen was saying pleasant things about you. Blast me, but I am glad to see you, though I wish you had stayed with that gang a little longer. I might ’a’ joined somewhere, and with two such fellows as you and me afloat together, there’s no telling what might have happened in the South Pacific afore the year was out.” “‘Pon me whurd, Mr. Gore, what I said was but th’ truth, an’ it won’t stand atween two old shipmates, even if they don’t happen t’ be agreeable on some principles. Here’s me hand, sir. Ye saved th’ last av th’ O’Tooles,” and the honest fellow held out his great carroty fingers, and I grasped them. “‘Tis a fact, ’pon me whurd, ye saved me life, sure, by makin’ thim cast me adrift, though I didn’t thank ye much at th’ time, seein’ a cruise in an open boat ain’t a pleasant trip for a man all alone in th’ calms. Yes, sir, ye saved me, sure, an’ I’m th’ last av thim. There was Reddy, me brother, lost in Chaney with th’ owld man, an’ there was Mike, me own cousin, on th’ West Coast, an’ I’m th’ only one left, an’ ye did save me--” “Worse luck,” grunted Garnett; “‘tis a pity you’re alive to say it, for it was the worst of all his crimes. I could forgive him everything else, but saving you to come back here and talk people to death with your bragging yarns.” “Tell me,” I said, “how the devil you fellows ever got clear of the scrape.” “That’s jist about what we would like you to tell us about yourself,” said Garnett, “and maybe you can explain to this low-minded Irishman the reason you were not hung. Come on with us, if you don’t mind watching this beast get drunk. We’re just ashore from that bark there, and we’ve got the night bearing dead ahead till sunrise. I’ll not be responsible for the respectability of the places this red-headed man’s steering for.” I thought for a moment. I knew well enough that I owed my berth as master of the _Arrow_ solely to the fact that Brown happened to be on board during her last cruise. If I left the matter of hiring mates to the office and had any difficulty with them afterward, it was an even chance that the influence of Mr. Ropesend would cease, and in spite of his friendship I would be on the beach for good and all. While I suspected the influence Brown had with the head of the firm was due to more than friendship, especially after the old man’s remark about my never having been married and having children of my own, yet I was by no means certain of it. Here were two mates I wished to have above all others, anyhow, for I knew them and they were my friends. I could count on Garnett, if he would remain sober enough to talk to, and I made up my mind to take him. O’Toole I was not so certain about, but I made up my mind to try him. So I went with him up the dirty street to Garnett’s favourite haunts in the neighbourhood of the Battery.