“I learned the fact very soon after I came on board myself from Mr. Frinks; but they are no longer in the hold of the Maud. I think you owe me an apology, Captain Scoble, since we are getting to be so everlastingly polite.” “An apology! And for what can I possibly owe you an apology, my boy?” demanded the master, looking at his victim very earnestly. “For doing me a serious injustice, captain. Do you take me for a young man with no bowels of compassion, no stomach for the duty of a Christian, no liver, heart, lungs, backbone, or gizzard to feel for the misfortunes of others?” “Well, well! What has broke loose now?” queried the captain. “My sense of justice, right, and duty broke loose pretty soon after I came on board of this craft. You have done me the injustice to believe that I had forgotten my friends, and left them to languish in the dark, damp, and gloomy hold of this vessel. You wronged me; for I have taken second-class passage for them, and dined them very nearly as well as you have dined yourself, though they had none of that excellent coffee.” “What do you mean by all this tirade of nonsense?” demanded Scoble, the wrinkles beginning to gather on his forehead again. “Isn’t my explanation plain enough? If it isn’t, I will take the liberty to add that, as politeness is the order of the day,--and it was very impolite to keep a dignified gentleman like Captain Ringgold, or even my less dignified chummy Felix, in such a gloomy hole as the hold of this vessel,--I assumed the responsibility of letting them out. You were busy reefing the sails, and it was not convenient to consult you as the commander of the schooner.” “Do you mean to say that you have opened the hold and released Ringgold and that imp of Scarburn’s?” cried the captain, shaking with rage. “Pried off the hatch-bar and let them out, captain. But I thought we were to be polite. As you ask me a question, I feel obliged to answer it whether your courtesy is exhausted or not,” replied Louis, unmoved by the increasing wrath of the commander. “As you were engaged at the time, I felt it to be incumbent upon me to do the honors of the vessel. I not only released my friends, but I invited them to occupy the second cabin, where they will doubtless be contented till I can procure accommodations for them in the main cabin.” “Then you intend to invite them into the first cabin, do you?” demanded the captain, with a curling sneer, and a sarcastic smile on his lips; but the passenger made such a long and deliberate speech that he had time to realize that he was ruining his case near his wife. “It would be more proper, and therefore more courteous, for the highest authority on board of the Maud to extend the invitation, and conduct my friends to the first cabin. If you insist upon doing the honors of the vessel in this respect, I shall certainly step aside in your favor, for you are entitled to perform the ceremonies in person.”