THE CAPTAIN. 



The Captain does not always talk in the jargon 

 of the fo'c's'le. In fact it might be said he uses 

 it merely when he " spins a yarn " in order to be 

 more realistic. He talks with his family, his 

 friends at home and his townspeople like any 

 well-educated man whose school-days are far 

 behind him, but who has learned more of men 

 and things from cruising about the world than any 

 books could teach. So this last chapter shall be 

 told in the every-day language he commonly uses 

 when in port among his fellow-men. 



There are several anecdotes of himself that the 

 Captain has forgotten to relate. Perhaps he did 

 not think them of sufficient importance, but I do, 

 and so will you when I have told them as they 

 were told to me. 



The Captain, like many another old salt, loves 

 dearly his country's flag, though he does not say 

 much about it. But he has carried it into too 

 many strange countries and welcomed the sight of 

 it like a friend from home in too many foreign 

 ports not to be fond of it. 



Though he never went to war he had an oppor- 

 tunity to defend the flag when it was insulted in 

 an alien country. 



