CHAPTER II.
A SELF-ELECTED CAPTAIN.

ISCIPLINE on board the Sortsman was ‘suf-

ficiently strict to prevent Ben, even though he
was the captain’s son, from venturing upon the quarter-
deck without a summons from one of the officers.

After concluding his conversation with the deserter
from the Progressive Age, it was not necessary he should
wait very long before being called aft by Mr. Short, the
first officer, who had watched from a distance his efforts
to extract information from those who had been picked up.

The mate beckoned for him to approach, and, coming
down from the quarter-deck, the two stood near the main
entrance of the cabin where the coming of the captain
might be observed, for the master of the Sportsman
would not have been well pleased to see his chief officer
holding a confidential conversation with one of the crew.

“Did you find out what you wanted to know?” Mr.
Short asked, anxiously.

“Yes; but I shall have to pay his price for it.”

«What is that?”

“Pretty near one-third of your plug of tobacco, with
the agreement that he shall be able to slip away from the

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