SLIM GOES ON STRIKE 187 



istarted. You need tending to now, sure 

 enough/ 



" So he has the cabin boy fetch a pan of warm 

 water and he washes the blood out of my hair 

 with his own hands and then shaves around the 

 cut and pastes sticking plaster on. That's all. 

 But say, will I have the law on him when we get 

 back to Frisco? Willi?" 



It was a long way back to Frisco. In the 

 meantime we wondered what was in store for 

 the luckless Irish grenadier. 



That afternoon, the revenue cutter Corwin 

 came steaming into port towing a poaching 

 sealer as a prize. It was the same schooner, 

 we learned, we had seen the Corwin chasing a 

 few days before. As the cutter passed us, Slim 

 sprang on the forecastle head while Captain 

 Shorey and everybody aboard the brig looked at 

 him and, waving a blue flannel shirt frantically, 

 shouted : " Please come aboard. I've had 

 trouble aboard." " Aye, aye," came back across 

 the water from the government patrol vessel. 

 Waving a shirt has no significance in sea tradi- 

 tion, but Slim was not enough of si sailor to 



