"Hallo! doctor, not in bed yet?"
"Not yet, my friends, but I think about going now. It is a lovely morning."
"Yes, we'll have a fair run up till noon, I guess," said the first mate.
"And after that?"
"Oh, a dead calm, till after noon again, but we'll pick up again to-night, and be well over all our troubles by that time."
"I hope so, I am sure," replied the docter.
"You may bet on it, if you like, doctor."
"No, thank you, it is foolish to bet against a certainty; and since you say so, then it will be so," said the doctor, with a gentle laugh.
"He is a good coon that foreign doctor, but he has an uncommonly nasty way of grinning," remarked the the third mate to the first as they went on deck, emptying the dregs of their pannikins overboard as they passed along.
"Yas, I calculate he has, Shem, but the ladies make up for their men, don't they?"
"You bet, boss."
"Breakfast is served at nine o'clock," murmured the doctor as he looked after the mates. "That is five hours from now. They will be dead in four hours, so that we shall have to make breakfast for ourselves. I shall have three hours sleep, and then wake up Dennis and the ladies to help with the ship. Yes, I can sleep now."
