The prow of her came up to the sidewalk, and the bowsprit stretchedover the street, pointing at a house on the other side that was arestaurant by its sign. The _Annalee_ was the ship's name ingilt lettering, and the clean lines of her and her way of lying inthe water would give you joy. I walked alongside her on the dock, andI went across the street to look at her that way, and stood in frontof the restaurant. And there I sniffed around a bit, and there Ismelt hot waffles. "It's a tasty smell," I says. "Smells like SteveyTodd," and I went into the restaurant, and there was Stevey Todd."Stevey," I says, "if you'll give me some hot waffles and honey, I'llbuy that ship out there if she's buyable." And Stevey Todd gave mehot waffles and honey, and I bought the _Annalee_.

It might be thought, and some would say so, that the trouble I hadwith Monson came of Clyde's money being unclean, as not got honestly,but through dodging South American customs, and I'm free to admit itwas sticky when I dug it up. But it's never acted other thanrespectable since that time. I never agreed with Clyde in argument,more than did Stevey Todd. A man falls in with various folks by seaand land, and he finds many that are made up of ill-fitting parts.Clyde was an odd man and a bold one, though very very aged and dry. Monson Itook for a loud and joyful one, simple and open inside his mind, andviolent inside his habits and free of language, and yet he acted to meboth secret and moderate, and I guess I mistook him.

Stevey Todd and I went to sea again in the coasting trade, andmainly to the south, and saw the coasts and parts we knew in the_Hebe Maitland_ days. So I passed several years more.

CHAPTER XII.