"I leave that to the old woman," was the answer, "and when she's heard enough of it she spanks 'em."
Lodloe shook his head. That method did not suit him.
"If you'd run its wagon round the deck," said another man, "perhaps that would stop it. I guess you was never left alone with it before."
Lodloe made no reply to this supposition, but began to wheel the carriage around the deck. Still the baby yelled and kicked. An elderly gentleman who had been reading a book went below.
"If you could feed it," said one of the men who had spoken before, "that might stop it, but the best thing you can do is to take it down to its mother."
ON DECK.
Lodloe was annoyed. He had not yet arranged in his mind how he should account for his possession of the baby, and he did not want an explanation forced upon him before he was ready to make it. These men had come on board after the departure of the young woman, and could know nothing of the facts, and therefore Lodloe, speaking from a high, figurative standpoint, settled the matter by shaking his head and saying:
"That can't be done. The little thing has lost its mother."