Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/305

 ship when one of the men, hurrying by, called to Nelson: "Better get your friends off, Mate. We're pulling out!"

"Fine hospitality!" complained Mart: "Well, be good, Nep. Come on, Tipperary, or we'll be on the briny!"

"I say," was the response. "I'd rather like it, you know. I wonder if they'd mind if I did."

"Why don't you ask?" said Nelson. "I wish you would. And I wish you might come, too, Mart. You might stow away!"

"No, thanks I I've seen enough sea duty for awhile. Me for shore and real food! Well, see you all later."

The anchors were already coming up and the siren was blowing a warning as they gained the deck. Mart looked over the side for the boat in which they had made the trip from shore and which had been instructed to wait for them. But they had made the mistake of paying off their boatman for the outward trip, and, like many happy-go-lucky denizens of that port, he saw no cause for further labor while there was a shilling in his pocket. At all events, he was not there, and Mart cast a dubious gaze about the harbor. Tip, who had dashed off to obtain permission to remain aboard and had got it, came back and went into 280