By the World Forgot

deous impasse into which fate had thrust him. He had not the faintest idea that his situation was caused by the treachery of his friend

being beaten into insensibility. Some crimp had picked him up, stripped him of his clothes, put him into these filthy rags, and sent him aboard the ship. By a legal mockery which would yet suffice, he had signed the articles. There was no way he could convince the captain of the truth of his story

olutely unbearable; and even if it were practicable, in all probability he might be leading the whole body to death and disaster. Beekman knew something about the organization and administration o

d as iron, and as quick as lightning, and as ruthless as the devil himself, but if the men did what they were tol

dage and canvas, to say nothing of steel wire, these men could get. Also they were drivers. They would carry to'gall'n'ts'l's when other ships dared show no more than a close-reefed tops'l. Speed was a prime requisite with the owners. The Susquehanna, in particular, had to justify her use, and Captain Fish took a natural and pardonable pride in strivin

m that the unpalatable advice must be followed. Fish, Woywod, and Salver had it in their power to harry him to death. His spirit, nevertheless, re

th?" he said, sto

, as it had been, to shout his own name to the trucks whenever he

hat they

ersey wants

is

e ship's

and call of ever

much as all the rest. The Bo's'n ain't no certificated officer. He don't live aft. He's got a position sort o' 'twixt fo'c's'l an' quarter-deck, but there's no man aboard who can do more for you or agin you than him. You seems to be a sort of a friendless damn fool. We don

and following the boy to the boatswa

ed and veteran mariner, who had follow

is not

ithout his consent got named Smith or Jones. I've knowed some mighty respectable people o' them names, an' I don't see why they've got to

an briefly. "What's my f

hn' on the

as good

in' no judgment on that, it's evident that you ain't used to the sea, that you ain't used to rough work, I means, an' this yere is new experience for you. I'm old enough to be your father, an' it jest occurred to me th

I assure you that my story is absolutely true. If I ev

'm tryin' to steer y

lieve

een on many ships, an' under many officers, but there couldn't be a worse hell ship than this one'd be if the men didn't knuckle down. You can't talk back; you can't even look sideways.

get a crew?" asked Beekman fiercely. "I

," he went on, reverting to the other's question, "are willin' to ship on the Susquehanna, an' do it over an' over agin, because she's well found, the grub's A-1, she's a lucky ship, an' makes quick passages. The pay is high, an' the officers are prime seamen, every inch o' them. If you do your dooty, if you do it right, if you don't make no mistakes, you'll git plenty o' hard language an' black looks, b

Ger

' I ain't no quar

've thought it over. I

nly thing y

t, by heaven, if I ever get ashore, and if I

ers an' disappears, an' sailormen's memories is short. They count on gittin' it hard from everybody, anyway. They've been trained that way from the beginnin'.

u mean; but I'm a navigator, and I can sail my own yacht. I can

as your

mer, of

any ca

o spea

been a

N

se to steer. You began bad by gittin' the mate down on you, an' I'

ds off me, I'll give him no

" asked the boats

es to tha

the worst crime a sailor can be found guilty of. Everybody ashore

urt," said Beekman savagely. "I'd a

estly. "The less a sailor man has to do with law shar

struck, and all the port watch were calle

you, you dirty ragamuffin?" roared W

hav

r,'" crie

a blow on the arm. The hardest word he ever ejaculated in

f mutiny, but I'll forgit that. You turn to an' do your work like a man, an' you'll

a wolf, a pitiless brute, at sea. Woywod knew no other way to command men. The men with whom he had been thrown knew no other way to be commanded. The mate had completely forgotten his friend

ywod exactly as he had treated him in days gone by. Woywod knew--he was not without shrewdness--that he was not on Harnash's social level, or even upon an intellectual parity with him, but Harnash never allowed the slightest suggestion of inequality to appear in their intercourse, because he really liked the man. When a man of inferior temper, quality, and character i

in him, and some of those whom he abused worst realized that, and stood for more from him than they would otherwise; but in the case of Beekman, both justice and fair play were in abeyance for the reasons mentioned. W

d control himself, whether he could submit to the end, he did not dare to say. He did not hope that he could, but at least he would give it a fair trial. In his secret heart he prayed that he might control himself, for, if he

y for justifying himself, although he deluded himself with the idea that his heart was fairly breaking on account of her. Indeed, a simple reflection mig

an instrument in the hands of another, and that other a rival for the af