"
"Some Portygee foolishness," grumbled the mate.
"I wonder," muttered Tunis.
"You wonder if it's so?" queried the mate. "You know how silly
these people are once they get a crazy notion in their heads."
"What's the crazy notion, Mr. Chapin?"
The mate flung up his hands and shrugged his shoulders.
"A haunt--a jinx--_something_. The Lord knows!"
"I wonder if it is a Portygee notion or something else," said Tunis
Latham, his eyes fixed on the back of Orion, busy, for once, at the
other rail.
"Whatever it is, Captain Latham," said Mason Chapin with gravity, "I
suggest you fill your berths at Boston."
"Guess I'll have to. But the offscourings of the city docks! They
will be worse than these Portygees."
It was not a prospect he welcomed. He well knew the sort of dock
rats he must put up with if he wished to make up his crew with city
hands for a short trip. The sea tramps who are within reach of
coasting skippers are the same kind of worthless material that
shiftless farmers must depend upon in harvest time.
Even the lack of one man forward, to say nothing of the cook's boy,
made a considerable difference in the working of the schooner. 'Rion
Latham loudly proclaimed that he was being imposed upon when he was
forced to work with the captain's watch.
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