The Pursuit of the House-Boat

iscuss the situation. "I'm blessed if in all my experience I ever sailed athwart anything like it afore! Pirating with a lot of low- down

utive officer of the House-boat. "I have no desire to be mutinous, Captain Kidd, but I have not embarked upon this enterprise fo

's going to dress 'em? Who's going to keep 'em in bonnets? You don't know anything about these creatures, my dear Abeuchap

, with an ill-concealed sneer, for he was

and change your appearance to fit

aneers," began Morgan, springing angr

ave no quarrelling among my aides. This is no time for divisions in our councils. An entirely unexpect

a hundred or more women to act as ballast. Now I, for one, do not fear a woman. We can set them to work. There is plenty for them to do keeping things tidy; and if we get into a ve

y. "When did you flourish,

e?" queried Abeuch

, icily. "I have quite forgotten your date;

seas in the seventh century, and what he undertook to do he did, and his piratical enterprises were carried on on a scale of magnificenc

proudly. "Six-ninety-eight

changed somewhat since that time. I have great respect for you, sir, as a ruffian. I have no doubt that as a ruffian you are a co

ted Abeuchape

n an open break-"the study of women is more difficult than that of astronomy; there may be two stars alike, but all women are unique. Because she was this, that, or the other

," said Kidd, scratching his

is it the poet called her?-'an infinite variety show,' or something of that sort;

a pirate's uniform after a fray, or to keep the fringe on his epaulets curled. They're no longer sewing-machines-they are Keeley motors for mystery and perpetual motion. Women have views now they are no longer content to be looked at merely; they must see for themselves; and the more they see, the more they wish to domesticate man and emancipate woman. It's my private opinion that if we are to ge

ex which cheers but not inebriates. We can no more ignore their presence upon this boat than we can expect whales to spout kerosene. In the first place, it would be excessively

troduce us, and I can't really see how we can do otherwise than ignore them. I certainly am not going to stand

s, and a true gentleman may always fly to the rescue of a distressed female; and, the second point, we shall soon be on the seas, and I understand that on the

eding them, and dressing them, and keeping them in bonnets. I fancy there's fish enough in the sea to fee

annot nowadays find it on the high seas. Modern civilization," said Kidd, "has ruined the pirate's business. The latest news from the other world has really opened my eyes to certain facts that I never dreamed of. The conditions of the da

sure, with never no hope for no public preferment beyond bein' made the super-intendent of the Sunday-school; but if so be as how you're bad, you may become famous, an' go to Congress, an' have your picture in the Sunday noospapers.' So I looks around for books tellin' how to get 'Famous in Fifty Ways,' an' after due reflection I settles in my mind that to be a pirate's just the thing for me, seein' as how it's both profitable an' healthy. Pass-in' over details, let me tell you that I became a pirate. I ran away to sea, an' by dint of perseverance, as the Sunday-school book useter say, in my badness I soon became the centre of a evil lot; an' when I says to 'em, 'Boys, I wants to be a pirate chief,' they hollers back, loud like, 'Jim, we're with you,' an' they was. For years I was the terror of the Venezuelan Gulf, the Spanish Main, an' the Pacific seas, but there was precious little money into it. The best pay I got

with an ecstatic shake of his head.

d Kidd. "But g

my clothes brushed and the proper wrinkles in my trousers-'this 'ere twelve millions,' says he, 'is werry light,' says he, carryin' the bag ashore. 'I don't care how light it is, so long as it's twelve millions,

here?" cri

t every bloomin' million was represented b

hat fearful luck! But you ha

s like all other prima donna's jewels-for adve

chapeta. "And the cre

the lot-mostly adjectives of a profane kind. When I told 'em what had happened, they got mad

ed you?" c

nd so on, endin' up with a lynchin'-but I didn't mind much after the first, which hurt a bit. But now that I'm here I'm glad it happened. This life is sort of less respons

ting tale proves what

ance at real gold it's all right, but it's of no earthly use to steal checks that people can stop payment on. Therefo

do it now?" as

ent to London and lifted the whole Bank of England, these women

m on board," sa

or land them in Paris. Tell them to spend a week on shore while we are provisioning. Tell 'em to sh

d!" crie

consent?" ask

In Paris? For a w

kins. "Will they cons

ent in the career of the House-boat upon which t