THE GAM. 187 



around them crooked streets, lookin', an lookin', 

 an' lookin', but b'gosh you don't raise a gal ! 

 Them women gits from house to house by goin' 

 aloft an' sneaking' along them flat roofs, b'gosh ! 

 An' a chap don't see his Nancy till they're spliced 

 in the mosque by some sky-pilot or Holy Joe or 

 other, or whatever them Ay-rabs calls him ! " 



"Aye-aye, messmate, we all know you've been 

 there, but Bilge Dennett is holding the yarn. 

 You ain't. Go on, Bilgy ! What did the old man 

 do when he dropped his mud-hook in the Ay-rab's 

 shanty ? " The speaker was one of the visiting 

 watch. The Man Who Had Been There Himself 

 subsided. 



" Well," Bilgy resumed, relieved at being no 

 longer interrupted, " 'taint so much what he done 

 inside as what he never done at all when he first 

 cume up to the door. They's a kind o' harbor 

 law to Johanna it says you must give three loud 

 raps on the door an' a good waitin' spell 'tween 

 the raps so's to let the women folks know a man's 

 a-comin' an' put for shelter. That's the rule o' 

 the road an' there's the devil to pay if you don't 

 sail by it. 



"Well, the old man, bless his jolly toplights, 

 he just give the door one good thump an' then in 

 he forged all ataunto. 



