"
"Have you told the skipper?" inquired Joe sardonically.
"I won't deceive you, Joe, I 'ave not," replied the old man. "He'll have
to stay down here of a daytime, an' only come on deck of a night when
it's our watch. I told 'im what a lot of good-'arted chaps you was, and
how--"
"How much is he going to give you?" inquired Joe impatiently.
"It's only fit and proper he should pay a little for the passage," said
Dan.
"How MUCH?" demanded Joe, banging the little triangular table with his
fist, and thereby causing the man with the antimacassar to drop a couple
of stitches.
"Twenty-five shillings," said old Dan reluctantly; "an' I'll spend the
odd five shillings on you chaps when we git to Limehouse."
"I don't want your money," said Joe; "there's a empty bunk he can have;
and mind, you take all the responsibility--I won't have nothing to do
with it."
"Thanks, Joe," said the old man, with a sigh of relief; "he's a nice
young chap, you're sure to take to him. I'll go and give him the tip to
come aboard at once."
He ran up on deck again and whistled softly, and a figure, which had
been hiding behind a pile of empties, came out, and, after looking
cautiously around, dropped noiselessly on to the schooner's deck, and
followed its protector below.
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