"Master Raymond, I believe," returned the minister coldly. "Where is the dying man who requires my spiritual ministrations?"
"Dying!" laughed the Captain. "How strangely that fellow got things mixed. I said dying to get married—did I not, Master Raymond?"
"Of course you did—that is, after you had explained yourself."
Master Mather's face looked blank, he did not know what to make of it.
"In truth, Master Mather," said the young Englishman, "I was under the necessity of getting married this evening; and, thinking over the worshipful ministers of Boston town, I singled you out as the one I should prefer to officiate on the happy occasion."
"I decline to have anything to do with it," said Master Mather indignantly, turning on his heel, and going to the door of the cabin. But here a muscular sailor, with a boarding pike, promptly forbade his passage by putting the pike across the door way.
"What do you mean by barring my way in this manner?" said the minister in great wrath to the captain. "Have you no reverence for the law?"
"Not a particle for Boston law," replied Captain Tolley. "The only law recognized on board the Storm King is the command of its Captain. You have been brought here to marry these two young friends of mine; and you will not leave the vessel before you do it—if I have to take you with us all the way to China."
Master Mather pondered the matter for a moment. "This is too informal, there are certain preliminaries that are necessary in such cases."
"Advisable—but I am told not absolutely necessary," replied Master Raymond.