"Ah; and so'd we all," came a windy chorus.
There was a stamping of feet: then the story-teller went on,
"I stood by the gang-way when he came up the side, a blanket across his shoulders.
"'Ullo, Reube,' says he….
"That were all…. I said nawthing…. I saw his face….
"When he came out o the sick-bay three months a'terwards, with his kit to go ashore—he was dismissed the Service, yo'll understand, sir—I was on deck…. He limped across, and shook hands with me out o them all…. We'd been like brothers, him and me…. Then he went down the side and never a word…. Just as his head was on a level with the deck, he stops. Good-bye all,' says he, with a laugh I never heard him laugh before. 'The British Navy ain't eard the last o Black Diamond.'… And nor we had, by thunder."
III
The Tremendous thrashed into a swell. A spout of foam flung up, and crashed down on the deck. When the last hiss of it had died away, Boniface took up his tale.
"That was 99—after Acre. I was away nigh on six years, middlin busy too. We'd the lot atop on us one time or t'other—French, Roossians, Dons, Dutch, Swedes, Danes, and all; and Nap to thank for em….
"Last Spring I come home to find Black Diamond cock o the Gap Gang, and better fear'd nor Boney's self in East Sussex. That'd be a day or two after they'd done Mr. Lucy."