“Like Rono the Great in the island of Hawai,” suggested Jack.

“Something.  This, however, cut short my deliberations.  I walked in.  There was a crowd of men and women drinking and smoking about the bar.  These, however, were not the people I sought.  The regular tenants of the house were not amongst that lot, and it was essential for me to find out in what part of the premises they were stowed.  I commenced proceedings by ordering a noggin of whisky, and making love to the damsel that brought it in.  After having formally made her an offer of marriage, I asked after the landlord.  She told me he was engaged with some customers, but offered to take a message to him.

“‘Then,’ said I, ’just tell him that a friend of One-eyed Dick’s would like to have a parley with him.’”

“And who was One-eyed Dick?” inquired Fritz.

“One of the crew of a piratical craft captured by one of our cruisers a few months before, and who at that time was safely lodged in Portsmouth jail.

“The girl soon returned.  She told me to walk with her, and led me through some narrow passages into what appeared to be another house.  She knocked at a door that was strongly barred and fastened inside.  A slight glance at these precautions made me aware that there was no chance of making a capture here without creating a great disturbance.  So, after reflecting an instant, I decided upon adopting some other course.

“When the door was opened I could see nothing distinctly; there was a turf-fire throwing a red glare out of the chimney, a dim oil-lamp hung from the roof, but everything was hidden in a dense cloud of tobacco smoke, through which the light was not sufficiently powerful to penetrate.”

“The atmosphere must have been stifling,” observed Fritz.

“Yes, it puts me in mind of your remark about the air, which, you said, consists of—­let me see—­”

“Oxygen and hydrogen.”

“Just so; but the air a sailor breathes when he is at home consists almost entirely of tobacco smoke.  At last, I could make out twenty or thirty rough-looking fellows seated on each side of a long deal table covered with bottles, glasses, and pipes.  Dan Hooligan, the landlord, sat at the top—­a fit president for such an assembly.  He was partly a smuggler, partly a publican, and wholly a sinner.  I should say that the liquor consumed at that table did not much good to the revenue.  How Dan contrived to escape the laws, was a mystery perhaps best known to the police.”

“So you are a pal of One-eyed Dick’s, are you?’ said he.

“‘Rather,’ said I, adopting the slang of the place.

“‘Well,’ said he, ’Dick has been a good customer of mine, and all his pals are welcome at the ‘Molly.’  I have not seen him lately, however—­how goes it with him now?’

“‘Right as a trivet,’ said I, ‘and making lots of rhino.’

“‘Glad to hear it; and what latitude does he hail in now?’