"What good will the Sailors' Aid Society do you?"
"You just wait and see what good it will do me!"
"Nonsense, Franz! The captain's willing to pay you off at Sydney."
"Pay me off, eh? Yes, and the old boy will pay me handsome damages, too!... the sentimental old ladies that have nothing else to do but befriend the poor abused sailor, will see to it that I find justice in the courts there."
"You have a good case against the captain as it is, then. Why don't you turn to and behave and be treated decently?"
"No," he replied, with a curious note of strength in his voice, "the worse I'm treated the more damages I can collect. I'm going to make it a real case of brutal treatment before I leave this old tub."
"But they—they'll—they might kill you!"
"Not much ... those days are about gone ... for a man who knows how to handle himself, as I do....
"Well, let us thank God," he finished, "for the Sailors' Aid Society and the dear old maids at Sydney!"
I walked off, thinking. Franz had sworn me not to tell. Yet I was tempted to. It would get me in right with Captain Schantze.