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? ? ? ? 'Well, Cooky?' he began, with a suaveness that was cold and of the temper of steel.

? ? ? ? 'Yes, sir,' the cook eagerly interpolated, with appeasing and apologetic servility.

? ? ? ? 'Don't you think you've stretched that neck of yours just about enough? It's unhealthy, you know. The mate's gone, so I can't afford to lose you, too. You must be very, very careful of your health, Cooky. Understand?'

? ? ? ? His last word, in striking contrast with the smoothness of his previous utterance, snapped like the lash of a whip. The cook quailed under it.

? ? ? ? 'Yes, sir,' was the meek reply, as the offending head disappeared into the galley.

? ? ? ? At this rebuke the rest of the crew became uninterested and fell to work at one task or another. A number of men, however, who were lounging about a companionway between the galley and the hatch, and who did not seem to be sailors, continued talking in low tones with one another.


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