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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11182 ***
+
+CAPTAINS ALL
+
+By W.W. Jacobs
+
+
+
+THE BOATSWAIN'S MATE
+
+[Illustration: "The Boatswain's Mate"]
+
+Mr. George Benn, retired boat-swain, sighed noisily, and with a
+despondent gesture, turned to the door and stood with the handle in his
+hand; Mrs. Waters, sitting behind the tiny bar in a tall Windsor-chair,
+eyed him with some heat.
+
+"My feelings'll never change," said the boatswain.
+
+"Nor mine either," said the landlady, sharply.  "It's a strange thing,
+Mr. Benn, but you always ask me to marry you after the third mug."
+
+"It's only to get my courage up," pleaded the boatswain.  "Next time I'll
+do it afore I 'ave a drop; that'll prove to you I'm in earnest."
+
+He stepped outside and closed the door before the landlady could make a
+selection from the many retorts that crowded to her lips.
+
+After the cool bar, with its smell of damp saw-dust, the road seemed hot
+and dusty; but the boatswain, a prey to gloom natural to a man whose hand
+has been refused five times in a fortnight, walked on unheeding.  His
+steps lagged, but his brain was active.
+
+He walked for two miles deep in thought, and then coming to a shady bank
+took a seat upon an inviting piece of turf and lit his pipe.  The heat
+and the drowsy hum of bees made him nod; his pipe hung from the corner of
+his mouth, and his eyes closed.
+
+He opened them at the sound of approaching footsteps, and, feeling in his
+pocket for matches, gazed lazily at the intruder.  He saw a tall man
+carrying a small bundle over his shoulder, and in the erect carriage, the
+keen eyes, and bronzed face had little difficulty in detecting the old
+soldier.
+
+The stranger stopped as he reached the seated boatswain and eyed him
+pleasantly.
+
+"Got a pipe o' baccy, mate?" he inquired.
+
+The boatswain handed him the small metal box in which he kept that
+luxury.
+
+"Lobster, ain't you?" he said, affably.
+
+The tall man nodded.  "Was," he replied.  "Now I'm my own commander-in-
+chief."
+
+"Padding it?" suggested the boatswain, taking the box from him and
+refilling his pipe.
+
+The other nodded, and with the air of one disposed to conversation
+dropped his bundle in the ditch and took a seat beside him.  "I've got
+plenty of time," he remarked.
+
+Mr. Benn nodded, and for a while smoked on in silence.  A dim idea which
+had been in his mind for some time began to clarify.  He stole a glance
+at his companion--a man of about thirty-eight, clear eyes, with humorous
+wrinkles at the corners, a heavy moustache, and a cheerful expression
+more than tinged with recklessness.
+
+"Ain't over and above fond o' work?" suggested the boatswain, when he had
+finished his inspection.
+
+"I love it," said the other, blowing a cloud of smoke in the air, "but we
+can't have all we want in this world; it wouldn't be good for us."
+
+The boatswain thought of Mrs. Waters, and sighed.  Then he rattled his
+pocket.
+
+"Would arf a quid be any good to you?" he inquired.
+
+"Look here," began the soldier; "just because I asked you for a pipe o'
+baccy--"
+
+"No offence," said the other, quickly.  "I mean if you earned it?"
+
+The soldier nodded and took his pipe from his mouth.  "Gardening and
+windows?" he hazarded, with a shrug of his shoulders.
+
+The boatswain shook his head.
+
+"Scrubbing, p'r'aps?" said the soldier, with a sigh of resignation.
+"Last house I scrubbed out I did it so thoroughly they accused me of
+pouching the soap.  Hang 'em!"
+
+"And you didn't?" queried the boatswain, eyeing him keenly.
+
+The soldier rose and, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, gazed at him
+darkly.  "I can't give it back to you," he said, slowly, "because I've
+smoked some of it, and I can't pay you for it because I've only got
+twopence, and that I want for myself.  So long, matey, and next time
+a poor wretch asks you for a pipe, be civil."
+
+"I never see such a man for taking offence in all my born days,"
+expostulated the boat-swain.  "I 'ad my reasons for that remark, mate.
+Good reasons they was."
+
+The soldier grunted and, stooping, picked up his bundle.
+
+"I spoke of arf a sovereign just now," continued the boatswain,
+impressively, "and when I tell you that I offer it to you to do a bit o'
+burgling, you'll see 'ow necessary it is for me to be certain of your
+honesty."
+
+"_Burgling?_" gasped the astonished soldier.  "_Honesty?_  'Struth; are
+you drunk or am I?"
+
+"Meaning," said the boatswain, waving the imputation away with his hand,
+"for you to pretend to be a burglar."
+
+"We're both drunk, that's what it is," said the other, resignedly.
+
+The boatswain fidgeted.  "If you don't agree, mum's the word and no 'arm
+done," he said, holding out his hand.
+
+"Mum's the word," said the soldier, taking it.  "My name's Ned Travers,
+and, barring cells for a spree now and again, there's nothing against it.
+Mind that."
+
+"Might 'appen to anybody," said Mr. Benn, soothingly.  "You fill your
+pipe and don't go chucking good tobacco away agin."
+
+Mr. Travers took the offered box and, with economy born of adversity,
+stooped and filled up first with the plug he had thrown away.  Then he
+resumed his seat and, leaning back luxuriously, bade the other "fire
+away."
+
+"I ain't got it all ship-shape and proper yet," said Mr. Benn, slowly,
+"but it's in my mind's eye.  It's been there off and on like for some
+time."
+
+He lit his pipe again and gazed fixedly at the opposite hedge.  "Two
+miles from here, where I live," he said, after several vigorous puffs,
+"there's a little public-'ouse called the Beehive, kept by a lady wot
+I've got my eye on."
+
+The soldier sat up.
+
+"She won't 'ave me," said the boatswain, with an air of mild surprise.
+
+The soldier leaned back again.
+
+"She's a lone widder," continued Mr. Benn, shaking his head, "and the
+Beehive is in a lonely place.  It's right through the village, and the
+nearest house is arf a mile off."
+
+"Silly place for a pub," commented Mr. Travers.
+
+"I've been telling her 'ow unsafe it is," said the boatswain.  "I've been
+telling her that she wants a man to protect her, and she only laughs at
+me.  She don't believe it; d'ye see?  Likewise I'm a small man--small,
+but stiff.  She likes tall men."
+
+"Most women do," said Mr. Travers, sitting upright and instinctively
+twisting his moustache.  "When I was in the ranks--"
+
+"My idea is," continued the boatswain, slightly raising his voice, "to
+kill two birds with one stone--prove to her that she does want being
+protected, and that I'm the man to protect her.  D'ye take my meaning,
+mate?"
+
+The soldier reached out a hand and felt the other's biceps.  "Like a lump
+o' wood," he said, approvingly.
+
+"My opinion is," said the boatswain, with a faint smirk, "that she loves
+me without knowing it."
+
+"They often do," said Mr. Travers, with a grave shake of his head.
+
+"Consequently I don't want 'er to be disappointed," said the other.
+
+"It does you credit," remarked Mr. Travers.
+
+"I've got a good head," said Mr. Benn, "else I shouldn't 'ave got my
+rating as boatswain as soon as I did; and I've been turning it over in my
+mind, over and over agin, till my brain-pan fair aches with it.  Now, if
+you do what I want you to to-night and it comes off all right, damme I'll
+make it a quid."
+
+"Go on, Vanderbilt," said Mr. Travers; "I'm listening."
+
+The boatswain gazed at him fixedly.  "You meet me 'ere in this spot at
+eleven o'clock to-night," he said, solemnly; "and I'll take you to her
+'ouse and put you through a little winder I know of.  You goes upstairs
+and alarms her, and she screams for help.  I'm watching the house,
+faithful-like, and hear 'er scream.  I dashes in at the winder, knocks
+you down, and rescues her.  D'ye see?"
+
+"I hear," corrected Mr. Travers, coldly.
+
+"She clings to me," continued the boat-swain, with a rapt expression of
+face, "in her gratitood, and, proud of my strength and pluck, she marries
+me."
+
+"An' I get a five years' honeymoon," said the soldier.
+
+The boatswain shook his head and patted the other's shoulder.  "In the
+excitement of the moment you spring up and escape," he said, with a
+kindly smile.  "I've thought it all out.  You can run much faster than I
+can; any-ways, you will.  The nearest 'ouse is arf a mile off, as I said,
+and her servant is staying till to-morrow at 'er mother's, ten miles
+away."
+
+Mr. Travers rose to his feet and stretched himself.  "Time I was
+toddling," he said, with a yawn.  "Thanks for amusing me, mate."
+
+"You won't do it?" said the boatswain, eyeing him with much concern.
+
+"I'm hanged if I do," said the soldier, emphatically.  "Accidents will
+happen, and then where should I be?"
+
+"If they did," said the boatswain, "I'd own up and clear you."
+
+"You might," said Mr. Travers, "and then again you mightn't.  So long,
+mate."
+
+"I--I'll make it two quid," said the boat-swain, trembling with
+eagerness.  "I've took a fancy to you; you're just the man for the job."
+
+The soldier, adjusting his bundle, glanced at him over his shoulder.
+"Thankee," he said, with mock gratitude.
+
+"Look 'ere," said the boatswain, springing up and catching him by the
+sleeve; "I'll give it to you in writing.  Come, you ain't faint-hearted?
+Why, a bluejacket 'ud do it for the fun o' the thing.  If I give it to
+you in writing, and there should be an accident, it's worse for me than
+it is for you, ain't it?"
+
+Mr. Travers hesitated and, pushing his cap back, scratched his head.
+
+"I gives you the two quid afore you go into the house," continued the
+boatswain, hastily following up the impression he had made.  "I'd give
+'em to you now if I'd got 'em with me.  That's my confidence in you; I
+likes the look of you.  Soldier or sailor, when there is a man's work to
+be done, give 'em to me afore anybody."
+
+[Illustration: "'I gives you the two quid afore you go into the house,'
+continued the boatswain."]
+
+The soldier seated himself again and let his bundle fall to the ground.
+"Go on," he said, slowly.  "Write it out fair and square and sign it, and
+I'm your man."
+
+The boatswain clapped him on the shoulder and produced a bundle of papers
+from his pocket.  "There's letters there with my name and address on
+'em," he said.  "It's all fair, square, and above-board.  When you've
+cast your eyes over them I'll give you the writing."
+
+Mr. Travers took them and, re-lighting his pipe, smoked in silence, with
+various side glances at his companion as that enthusiast sucked his
+pencil and sat twisting in the agonies of composition.  The document
+finished--after several failures had been retrieved and burnt by the
+careful Mr. Travers--the boat-swain heaved a sigh of relief, and handing
+it over to him, leaned back with a complacent air while he read it.
+
+"Seems all right," said the soldier, folding it up and putting it in his
+waistcoat-pocket.  "I'll be here at eleven to-night."
+
+"Eleven it is," said the boatswain, briskly, "and, between pals--here's
+arf a dollar to go on with."
+
+He patted him on the shoulder again, and with a caution to keep out of
+sight as much as possible till night walked slowly home.  His step was
+light, but he carried a face in which care and exultation were strangely
+mingled.
+
+By ten o'clock that night care was in the ascendant, and by eleven, when
+he discerned the red glow of Mr. Travers's pipe set as a beacon against a
+dark background of hedge, the boatswain was ready to curse his inventive
+powers.  Mr. Travers greeted him cheerily and, honestly attributing the
+fact to good food and a couple of pints of beer he had had since the
+boatswain left him, said that he was ready for anything.
+
+Mr. Benn grunted and led the way in silence.  There was no moon, but the
+night was clear, and Mr. Travers, after one or two light-hearted attempts
+at conversation, abandoned the effort and fell to whistling softly
+instead.
+
+Except for one lighted window the village slept in darkness, but the
+boatswain, who had been walking with the stealth of a Red Indian on the
+war-path, breathed more freely after they had left it behind.  A renewal
+of his antics a little farther on apprised Mr. Travers that they were
+approaching their destination, and a minute or two later they came to a
+small inn standing just off the road.  "All shut up and Mrs. Waters abed,
+bless her," whispered the boatswain, after walking care-fully round the
+house.  "How do you feel?"
+
+"I'm all right," said Mr. Travers.  "I feel as if I'd been burgling all
+my life.  How do you feel?"
+
+"Narvous," said Mr. Benn, pausing under a small window at the rear of the
+house.  "This is the one."
+
+Mr. Travers stepped back a few paces and gazed up at the house.  All was
+still.  For a few moments he stood listening and then re-joined the
+boatswain.
+
+"Good-bye, mate," he said, hoisting himself on to the sill.  "Death or
+victory."
+
+The boatswain whispered and thrust a couple of sovereigns into his hand.
+"Take your time; there's no hurry," he muttered.  "I want to pull myself
+together.  Frighten 'er enough, but not too much.  When she screams I'll
+come in."
+
+Mr. Travers slipped inside and then thrust his head out of the window.
+"Won't she think it funny you should be so handy?" he inquired.
+
+"No; it's my faithful 'art," said the boat-swain, "keeping watch over her
+every night, that's the ticket.  She won't know no better."
+
+Mr. Travers grinned, and removing his boots passed them out to the other.
+"We don't want her to hear me till I'm upstairs," he whispered.  "Put 'em
+outside, handy for me to pick up."
+
+The boatswain obeyed, and Mr. Travers--who was by no means a good hand at
+darning socks--shivered as he trod lightly over a stone floor.  Then,
+following the instructions of Mr. Benn, he made his way to the stairs and
+mounted noiselessly.
+
+But for a slight stumble half-way up his progress was very creditable for
+an amateur.  He paused and listened and, all being silent, made his way
+to the landing and stopped out-side a door.  Despite himself his heart
+was beating faster than usual.
+
+He pushed the door open slowly and started as it creaked.  Nothing
+happening he pushed again, and standing just inside saw, by a small ewer
+silhouetted against the casement, that he was in a bedroom.  He listened
+for the sound of breathing, but in vain.
+
+"Quiet sleeper," he reflected; "or perhaps it is an empty room.  Now, I
+wonder whether--"
+
+The sound of an opening door made him start violently, and he stood
+still, scarcely breathing, with his ears on the alert.  A light shone on
+the landing, and peeping round the door he saw a woman coming along the
+corridor--a younger and better-looking woman than he had expected to
+see.  In one hand she held aloft a candle, in the other she bore a
+double-barrelled gun.  Mr. Travers withdrew into the room and, as the
+light came nearer, slipped into a big cupboard by the side of the
+fireplace and, standing bolt upright, waited.  The light came into the
+room.
+
+"Must have been my fancy," said a pleasant voice.
+
+"Bless her," smiled Mr. Travers.
+
+His trained ear recognized the sound of cocking triggers.  The next
+moment a heavy body bumped against the door of the cupboard and the key
+turned in the lock.
+
+"Got you!" said the voice, triumphantly.  "Keep still; if you try and
+break out I shall shoot you."
+
+"All right," said Mr. Travers, hastily; "I won't move."
+
+"Better not," said the voice.  "Mind, I've got a gun pointing straight at
+you."
+
+"Point it downwards, there's a good girl," said Mr. Travers, earnestly;
+"and take your finger off the trigger.  If anything happened to me you'd
+never forgive yourself."
+
+"It's all right so long as you don't move," said the voice; "and I'm not
+a girl," it added, sternly.
+
+"Yes, you are," said the prisoner.  "I saw you.  I thought it was an
+angel at first.  I saw your little bare feet and--"
+
+A faint scream interrupted him.
+
+"You'll catch cold," urged Mr. Travers.
+
+"Don't you trouble about me," said the voice, tartly.
+
+"I won't give any trouble," said Mr. Travers, who began to think it was
+time for the boatswain to appear on the scene.  "Why don't you call for
+help?  I'll go like a lamb."
+
+"I don't want your advice," was the reply.  "I know what to do.  Now,
+don't you try and break out.  I'm going to fire one barrel out of the
+window, but I've got the other one for you if you move."
+
+"My dear girl," protested the horrified Mr. Travers, "you'll alarm the
+neighbourhood."
+
+"Just what I want to do," said the voice.  "Keep still, mind."
+
+Mr. Travers hesitated.  The game was up, and it was clear that in any
+case the stratagem of the ingenious Mr. Benn would have to be disclosed.
+
+"Stop!" he said, earnestly.  "Don't do anything rash.  I'm not a burglar;
+I'm doing this for a friend of yours--Mr. Benn."
+
+"What?" said an amazed voice.
+
+"True as I stand here," asseverated Mr. Travers.  "Here, here's my
+instructions.  I'll put 'em under the door, and if you go to the back
+window you'll see him in the garden waiting."
+
+He rustled the paper under the door, and it was at once snatched from his
+fingers.  He regained an upright position and stood listening to the
+startled and indignant exclamations of his gaoler as she read the
+boatswain's permit:
+
+     "_This is to give notice that I, George Benn, being of sound mind
+     and body, have told Ned Travers to pretend to be a burglar at Mrs.
+     Waters's.  He ain't a burglar, and I shall be outside all the time.
+     It's all above-board and ship-shape.
+
+     "(Signed) George Benn_"
+
+"Sound mind--above-board--ship-shape," repeated a dazed voice.  "Where is
+he?"
+
+"Out at the back," replied Mr. Travers.  "If you go to the window you can
+see him.  Now, do put something round your shoulders, there's a good
+girl."
+
+There was no reply, but a board creaked.  He waited for what seemed a
+long time, and then the board creaked again.
+
+"Did you see him?" he inquired.
+
+"I did," was the sharp reply.  "You both ought to be ashamed of
+yourselves.  You ought to be punished."
+
+"There is a clothes-peg sticking into the back of my head," remarked Mr.
+Travers.  "What are you going to do?"
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"What are you going to do?" repeated Mr. Travers, somewhat uneasily.
+"You look too nice to do anything hard; leastways, so far as I can judge
+through this crack."
+
+There was a smothered exclamation, and then sounds of somebody moving
+hastily about the room and the swish of clothing hastily donned.
+
+"You ought to have done it before," commented the thoughtful Mr. Travers.
+"It's enough to give you your death of cold."
+
+"Mind your business," said the voice, sharply.  "Now, if I let you out,
+will you promise to do exactly as I tell you?"
+
+"Honour bright," said Mr. Travers, fervently.
+
+"I'm going to give Mr. Benn a lesson he won't forget," proceeded the
+other, grimly.  "I'm going to fire off this gun, and then run down and
+tell him I've killed you."
+
+"Eh?"  said the amazed Mr. Travers.  "Oh, Lord!"
+
+"H'sh!  Stop that laughing," commanded the voice.  "He'll hear you.  Be
+quiet!"
+
+The key turned in the lock, and Mr. Travers, stepping forth, clapped his
+hand over his mouth and endeavoured to obey.  Mrs. Waters, stepping back
+with the gun ready, scrutinized him closely.
+
+"Come on to the landing," said Mr. Travers, eagerly.  "We don't want
+anybody else to hear.  Fire into this."
+
+He snatched a patchwork rug from the floor and stuck it up against the
+balusters.  "You stay here," said Mrs. Waters.  He nodded.
+
+She pointed the gun at the hearth-rug, the walls shook with the
+explosion, and, with a shriek that set Mr. Travers's teeth on edge, she
+rushed downstairs and, drawing back the bolts of the back door, tottered
+outside and into the arms of the agitated boatswain.
+
+"Oh! oh! oh!" she cried.
+
+"What--what's the matter?" gasped the boatswain.
+
+The widow struggled in his arms.  "A burglar," she said, in a tense
+whisper.  "But it's all right; I've killed him."
+
+"Kill--" stuttered the other.  "Kill----_Killed him?_"
+
+Mrs. Waters nodded and released herself, "First shot," she said, with a
+satisfied air.
+
+The boatswain wrung his hands.  "Good heavens!" he said, moving slowly
+towards the door.  "Poor fellow!"
+
+"Come back," said the widow, tugging at his coat.
+
+"I was--was going to see--whether I could do anything for 'im," quavered
+the boatswain.  "Poor fellow!"
+
+"You stay where you are," commanded Mrs. Waters.  "I don't want any
+witnesses.  I don't want this house to have a bad name.  I'm going to
+keep it quiet."
+
+"Quiet?" said the shaking boatswain.  "How?"
+
+"First thing to do," said the widow, thoughtfully, "is to get rid of the
+body.  I'll bury him in the garden, I think.  There's a very good bit of
+ground behind those potatoes.  You'll find the spade in the tool-house."
+
+The horrified Mr. Benn stood stock-still regarding her.
+
+"While you're digging the grave," continued Mrs. 'Waters, calmly, "I'll
+go in and clean up the mess."
+
+The boatswain reeled and then fumbled with trembling fingers at his
+collar.
+
+Like a man in a dream he stood watching as she ran to the tool-house and
+returned with a spade and pick; like a man in a dream he followed her on
+to the garden.
+
+"Be careful," she said, sharply; "you're treading down my potatoes."
+
+The boatswain stopped dead and stared at her.  Apparently unconscious of
+his gaze, she began to pace out the measurements and then, placing the
+tools in his hands, urged him to lose no time.
+
+"I'll bring him down when you're gone," she said, looking towards the
+house.
+
+The boatswain wiped his damp brow with the back of his hand.  "How are
+you going to get it downstairs?" he breathed.
+
+"Drag it," said Mrs. Waters, briefly.
+
+"Suppose he isn't dead?" said the boat-swain, with a gleam of hope.
+
+"Fiddlesticks!" said Mrs. Waters.  "Do you think I don't know?  Now,
+don't waste time talking; and mind you dig it deep.  I'll put a few
+cabbages on top afterwards--I've got more than I want."
+
+She re-entered the house and ran lightly upstairs.  The candle was still
+alight and the gun was leaning against the bed-post; but the visitor had
+disappeared.  Conscious of an odd feeling of disappointment, she looked
+round the empty room.
+
+"Come and look at him," entreated a voice, and she turned and beheld the
+amused countenance of her late prisoner at the door.
+
+"I've been watching from the back window," he said, nodding.  "You're a
+wonder; that's what you are.  Come and look at him."
+
+Mrs. Waters followed, and leaning out of the window watched with simple
+pleasure the efforts of the amateur sexton.  Mr. Benn was digging like
+one possessed, only pausing at intervals to straighten his back and to
+cast a fearsome glance around him.  The only thing that marred her
+pleasure was the behaviour of Mr. Travers, who was struggling for a place
+with all the fervour of a citizen at the Lord Mayor's show.
+
+"Get back," she said, in a fierce whisper.  "He'll see you."
+
+Mr. Travers with obvious reluctance obeyed, just as the victim looked up.
+
+"Is that you, Mrs. Waters?" inquired the boatswain, fearfully.
+
+"Yes, of course it is," snapped the widow.  "Who else should it be, do
+you think?  Go on!  What are you stopping for?"
+
+Mr. Benn's breathing as he bent to his task again was distinctly audible.
+The head of Mr. Travers ranged itself once more alongside the widow's.
+For a long time they watched in silence.
+
+"Won't you come down here, Mrs. Waters?" called the boatswain, looking up
+so suddenly that Mr. Travers's head bumped painfully against the side of
+the window.  "It's a bit creepy, all alone."
+
+"I'm all right," said Mrs. Waters.
+
+"I keep fancying there's something dodging behind them currant bushes,"
+pursued the unfortunate Mr. Benn, hoarsely.  "How you can stay there
+alone I can't think.  I thought I saw something looking over your
+shoulder just now.  Fancy if it came creeping up behind and caught hold
+of you!  The widow gave a sudden faint scream.
+
+"If you do that again" she said, turning fiercely on Mr. Travers.
+
+"He put it into my head," said the culprit, humbly; "I should never have
+thought of such a thing by myself.  I'm one of the quietest and
+best-behaved----"
+
+"Make haste, Mr. Benn," said the widow, turning to the window again;
+"I've got a lot to do when you've finished."
+
+The boatswain groaned and fell to digging again, and Mrs. Waters, after
+watching a little while longer, gave Mr. Travers some pointed
+instructions about the window and went down to the garden again.
+
+"That will do, I think," she said, stepping into the hole and regarding
+it critically.  "Now you'd better go straight off home, and, mind, not a
+word to a soul about this."
+
+She put her hand on his shoulder, and noticing with pleasure that he
+shuddered at her touch led the way to the gate.  The boat-swain paused
+for a moment, as though about to speak, and then, apparently thinking
+better of it, bade her good-bye in a hoarse voice and walked feebly up
+the road.  Mrs. Waters stood watching until his steps died away in the
+distance, and then, returning to the garden, took up the spade and stood
+regarding with some dismay the mountainous result of his industry.  Mr.
+Travers, who was standing just inside the back door, joined her.
+
+"Let me," he said, gallantly.
+
+The day was breaking as he finished his task.  The clean, sweet air and
+the exercise had given him an appetite to which the smell of cooking
+bacon and hot coffee that proceeded from the house had set a sharper
+edge.  He took his coat from a bush and put it on.  Mrs. Waters appeared
+at the door.
+
+"You had better come in and have some breakfast before you go," she said,
+brusquely; "there's no more sleep for me now."
+
+Mr. Travers obeyed with alacrity, and after a satisfying wash in the
+scullery came into the big kitchen with his face shining and took a seat
+at the table.  The cloth was neatly laid, and Mrs. Waters, fresh and
+cool, with a smile upon her pleasant face, sat behind the tray.  She
+looked at her guest curiously, Mr. Travers's spirits being somewhat
+higher than the state of his wardrobe appeared to justify.
+
+"Why don't you get some settled work?" she inquired, with gentle
+severity, as he imparted snatches of his history between bites.
+
+"Easier said than done," said Mr. Travers, serenely.  "But don't you run
+away with the idea that I'm a beggar, because I'm not.  I pay my way,
+such as it is.  And, by-the-bye, I s'pose I haven't earned that two
+pounds Benn gave me?"
+
+His face lengthened, and he felt uneasily in his pocket.
+
+"I'll give them to him when I'm tired of the joke," said the widow,
+holding out her hand and watching him closely.
+
+Mr. Travers passed the coins over to her.  "Soft hand you've got," he
+said, musingly.  "I don't wonder Benn was desperate.  I dare say I should
+have done the same in his place."
+
+Mrs. Waters bit her lip and looked out at the window; Mr. Travers resumed
+his breakfast.
+
+"There's only one job that I'm really fit for, now that I'm too old for
+the Army," he said, confidentially, as, breakfast finished, he stood at
+the door ready to depart.
+
+"Playing at burglars?" hazarded Mrs. Waters.
+
+"Landlord of a little country public-house," said Mr. Travers, simply.
+
+Mrs. Waters fell back and regarded him with open-eyed amazement.
+
+"Good morning," she said, as soon as she could trust her voice.
+
+"Good-bye," said Mr. Travers, reluctantly.  "I should like to hear how
+old Benn takes this joke, though."
+
+Mrs. Waters retreated into the house and stood regarding him.  "If you're
+passing this way again and like to look in--I'll tell you," she said,
+after a long pause.  "Good-bye."
+
+"I'll look in in a week's time," said Mr. Travers.
+
+He took the proffered hand and shook it warmly.  "It would be the best
+joke of all," he said, turning away.
+
+"What would?"
+
+The soldier confronted her again.
+
+"For old Benn to come round here one evening and find me landlord.  Think
+it over."
+
+Mrs. Waters met his gaze soberly.  "I'll think it over when you have
+gone," she said, softly.  "Now go."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boatswain's Mate, by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11182 ***