So the tugboat with her emergency provisions waited, while we enjoyed a hearty breakfast. I finished as soon as possible, however, and said good-bye to my guests; for a tugboat from my owners had come alongside in the meanwhile, and I was in a hurry to get ashore. Reaching the deck with my papers, I found the German tanker _Energie_ churning past us, bound somewhere up the East River. She had already been discovered from our forecastle; all hands lined the bulwarks forward, laughing and jeering, waving their caps at her. At my appearance on the quarter-deck, a group of three men, led by the Cockney boatswain of the _Santiago_, detached themselves from the others forward and met me at the break of the poop. "Committee from the crew o’ the _Santiago_, sir" announced the boatswain "We has to inform you, sir, that we votes your ship is a beauty, your officers is gentlemen, and yourself is a man we’d like to sail with whenever you’re looking for a crew. You’ve treated us like kings, sir—and we’re the boys as knows when we’re well treated. We thanks ye, sir, from the bottom of our hearts" I was taken aback for a minute, not being a ready speechmaker: "Well, boys" said I at last, blinking back a tear of emotion "it’s been a pleasure to me to be able to make you comfortable. I can only answer you in the same words, in a way we all understand: if I needed a crew, I’d rather have you in the forecastle than any crowd I ever saw. You have handled yourselves like seamen under trying circumstances. And, well, I’m damned glad that I came along!" I jumped aboard the tug, then, to forestall any further demonstration. But as I drew away from the ship’s side, Captain Potter, with Folsom beside him, mounted the after-house. "Now, my lads!" he cried "Three cheers for Captain Clark! And give them with a will!" They gave them. "Three cheers, now, for the good ship _Pactolus_! And when we’re cast adrift again, pray God she picks us up!" You could hear the cheer all over the upper harbour. The Staten Island ferryboat, on her way from the Battery to St. George, changed her course and passed close beside us, to see what the excitement was. *UNDER SAIL* *UNDER SAIL* *I*