DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY MOTHER
WHOSE SYMPATHY MADE
IT POSSIBLE FOR ME
TO GO TO SEA

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. [Off for the South Seas, with Few Clothes but a Stout Heart ]3
CHAPTER II. [The Storm—Tattered and Torn but Still on the Ocean ]13
CHAPTER III. [Beecham's Pills Are Worth a Guinea Though They Cost but Eighteen Pence ]25
CHAPTER IV. [Personalities—Omens and Superstitions of Old Charlie ]33
CHAPTER V. [The Shark—"To Hell with Shark and Ship" ]44
CHAPTER VI. [The Tin-Plate Fight—One-Eyed Riley Triumphs ]52
CHAPTER VII. [In Which the Captain Wounds His Hand ]61
CHAPTER VIII. [The Bo'sun Lights—The Captain's Death ]68
CHAPTER IX. [The Showdown—Swanson Takes the Count ]76
CHAPTER X. [Burial at Sea—In Which Riley Officiates ]83
CHAPTER XI. [Astral Influences—The Crew's Version of the Unknown ]91
CHAPTER XII. [The Cook's Watch—Materialism Versus Astralism ]100
CHAPTER XIII. [Higher Intelligence—A Visit from Out the Shadows ]107
CHAPTER XIV. [Christmas Day—Our Unwilling Guest the Dolphin ]117
CHAPTER XV. [Crimp and Sailor—The Cook's Marxian Effort ]123
CHAPTER XVI. [The Montana Cowboy—A Horse-Marine Adventure ]130
CHAPTER XVII. [The Fragrant Smell of the Alluring Palms ]141
CHAPTER XVIII. [Suva Harbor—The Reef and the Lighthouses ]146
CHAPTER XIX. [Introducing Captain Kane, Mrs. Fagan and Mrs. Fagan's Bar ]151
CHAPTER XX. [Reminiscences of Old Clipper Days ]158
CHAPTER XXI. [Unloading Cargo—Again the Master—Native Police. ]163
CHAPTER XXII. [Shore Leave—The Web-Toed Sailor—The Missionary Ship ]173
CHAPTER XXIII. [Fiji Royalty—Local Color—Visitors to the Ship ]187
CHAPTER XXIV. [A Drive with Captain Kane—Razorback Rampant ]194
CHAPTER XXV. [Homeward Bound—The Stowaway ]202
CHAPTER XXVI. [The Mysterious Hindoo ]211
CHAPTER XXVII. [The Hurricane ]220
CHAPTER XXVIII. [The Master Returns ]228
CHAPTER XXIX. [The Home Port ]238

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Hardship is a stern master, from whom we part willingly.

But it is often true that real men learn thereby to handle their fellow-men, to love them, and to make the most of their own manhood. In no class is this more marked than among those who have been formed by the training of the sea.

Hundreds have lost their lives there, hundreds more have been coarsened through ignorance and because of rough living, but the survivors, who have used what God gave them of brain and muscle to the best advantage, are a lot of men to be trusted mightily.