“Divvil a bit!” declared Mike positively. “’Tis solid land Oi do be afther wantin’ to feel ben’ath me two feet—an’ me havin’ but wan.”
“Waall, I’ll bet ye she’s a-goin’ fer a cruise annyways,” rumbled Cap’n Pem, “an’ we’ll soon fin’ out.”
Rising, the old whaleman stumped across the dock to where the ancient craft was being moored. At his heels followed the two boys and Mike.
“Hey there, Ben!” shouted the old sailor to the captain of the tug. “What in tarnation ye bringin’ the Narwhal over here fer?”
The tug’s skipper stuck his head from the pilot house, twirled the big wheel with one hand, and jerked the bell pull with the other. “Goin’ for a cruise,” he shouted back. “Heard Dixon’s aimin’ to send her to the Arctic.”
Cap’n Pem turned triumphantly to Mike. “There ye be, ye ol’ derelic’,” he cried. “Didn’t I tell ye?”
“Faith an’ yez did thot,” admitted Mike good-naturedly. “An’ by the same token, ’tis goin’ along av her ye’ll be jus’ fer to be afther provin’ yez was right altogether.”
“Well, I’m ready to believe anything now,” declared Tom. “You remember I thought you were fooling about the Hector when you said she was fitting out, and I never dreamed we’d go on her. And she was a fine old ship! Gosh, do you remember the way she went through that blow in the south Atlantic, Jim?”
“Do I!” replied Jim enthusiastically. “And say, I shouldn’t wonder if this old Narwhal’s just as staunch a ship too, after she’s fixed up.”
“Bet ye she will be!” exclaimed Cap’n Pem. “I tol’ ye whaleships wuz built to las’ forever, and this here Narwhal ain’t so drefful ol’. Why, I can recollec’ when she wuz new. Le’s see, reckon I must ha’ been ’bout the size o’ ye, an’ she warn’t more’n twenty year ol’ then. Yep, I’ll bet she ain’t much older’n I be.”