“Why, what do you mean, old man?” inquired Wolfe, leaning upon his elbow and gazing about the dirty cabin with a perplexed air. “Where are we, anyhow? What craft is this? Somehow, it doesn’t seem like the Albatross.”
“Albatross!” exclaimed Breeze. “I should say not. We are on board the Vixen, bound for the Grand Bank, with only our shore clothes for an outfit, and nobody in Gloucester knows what has become of us.”
“You don’t mean it!” cried Wolfe, now thoroughly aroused. “How did it all happen?”
“Do you mean to tell me,” said Breeze, “that you do not remember anything of what happened to us last night?”
“Not a thing. ’Pon my honor. The last I remember is that after waiting a while for you I fell in with a pleasant fellow on the wharf who wanted me to stroll uptown with him. He said we would not be gone more than fifteen minutes. We stopped in at some kind of a place to get a drink. He treated me, then of course I had to treat him, and after that I don’t remember anything more. What vile stuff it must have been! Ugh! my mouth tastes like brass and my head feels as though it were made of red-hot lead.”
“Well,” said Breeze, “that drink of yours has got us into about as mean a scrape as I know of, and if it hasn’t completely ruined my reputation and broken my mother’s heart, I shall be thankful.”
“My dear fellow, you don’t mean to tell me it is as bad as all that!” exclaimed Wolfe, now sitting up, and with a tone of deep concern. “It doesn’t seem possible. I wish you would explain what you mean.”
“There isn’t time now,” answered Breeze; “the cook called breakfast ten minutes ago, and we’ll have to hurry if we want to get any. You’d better get on deck and douse your head in a bucket of cold water. It will do you good. After breakfast I’ll tell you the whole story, and then we can make up our minds what to do.”
The men who sat at the breakfast-table with Breeze and Wolfe regarded them curiously, winked slyly to one another, and made a few jokes in low tones upon their appearance, but nobody spoke to them.
After the meal was over, as no particular attention was paid to them, they found a sheltered place forward, away up in the eyes of the schooner. There Breeze related to Wolfe all that had happened during the preceding night, bringing his story down to that morning, and not omitting the remarks the skipper had made to the effect that he had been intoxicated.