ACCORDING TO CONTRACT When the Blonde had been on the White Pig for a week, in spite of all the science of Scudamore, ready money of the Admiral, and efforts of the natives, there began to be signs of a change in the weather.

The sea was as smooth, and the sky as bright, and the land as brown as ever; but the feel of the air was not the same, and the sounds that came through it were different.

"Rain afore Friday," said Captain Zeb, "and a blow from sowwest afore Sunday.

'Twill break up the Blunder, I reckon, my lads." With various aspects they looked at him, all holding sweet converse at the Darling Arms, after the manifold struggles of the day.

The eyes of the younger men were filled with disappointment and anger, as at a sure seer of evil; the elder, to whom cash was more important, gazed with anxiety and dismay; while a pair, old enough to be sires of Zebedee, nodded approval, and looked at one another, expecting to receive, but too discreet to give, a wink.