“Is that the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond?” demanded the skipper, boldly.

“Ay, ay,” answered Roswell Gardiner, in the sententious manner of a seaman.

“Is there one Watson, of Martha’s Vineyard, shipped in that craft?”

“He was aboard here for a week, but left us suddenly.  As he did not sign articles, I cannot say that he run.”

“He changed his mind, then,” returned the other, as one expresses a slight degree of surprise at hearing that which was new to him.  “Watson is apt to whiffle about, though a prime fellow, if you can once fasten to him, and get him into blue water.  Does your schooner go out to-morrow, Captain Gar’ner?”

“Not till next day, I think,” said Roswell Gardiner, with the frankness of his nature, utterly free from the slightest suspicion that he was communicating with one in the interests of rivals.  “My mates have not yet joined me, and I am short of my complement by two good hands.  Had that fellow Watson stuck by me, I would have given him a look at water that no lead ever sounded.”

“Ay, ay; he’s a whiffler, but a good man on a sea-elephant.  Then you think you’ll sail day a’ter to-morrow?”

“If my mates come over from the main.  They wrote me yesterday that they had got the hands, and were then on the look-out for something to get across in.  I’ve come out here to be ready for them, and to pick ’em up, that they needn’t go all the way up to the Harbour.”

“That’s a good traverse, and will save a long pull.  Perhaps they are in that boat.”

At this allusion to a boat, Roswell Gardiner sprang into his main rigging, and saw, sure enough, that a boat was pulling directly towards the schooner, coming from the main, and distant only a short half mile.  A glass was handed to him, and he was soon heard announcing cheerfully to his men, that “Mr. Hazard and the second officer were in the boat, with two seamen,” and that he supposed they should now have their complement.  All this was overheard by the skipper of the sloop, who caught each syllable with the most eager attention.

“You’ll soon be travelling south, I’m thinking, Captain Gar’ner?” called out this worthy, again, in a sort of felicitating way—­“Them’s your chaps, and they’ll set you up.”

“I hope so, with all my heart, for there is nothing more tiresome than waiting when one is all ready to trip.  My owner is getting to be impatient too, and wants to see some skins in return for his dollars.”

“Ay, ay, them’s your chaps, and you’ll be off the day a’ter to-morrow, at the latest.  Well, a good time to you, Captain Gar’ner, and a plenty of skinning.  It’s a long road to travel, especially when a craft has to go as far south as your’s is bound!”

“How do you know, friend, whither I am bound?  You have not asked me for my sealing ground, nor is it usual, in our business, to be hawking it up and down the country.”