Upon the instant, and with ready invention, Phillip Redgill concocted an imaginary story, in which he did not fail to laud his own valour, and that of the new arrivals, all of which was agreed to in side-winks by Captain Jack and Faulkner, who, from time to time, drank heartily, and swore roundly that all the company heard was strictly true.
“But now I come to look at your eccentric friend more closely,” said a gallant, tapping his snuff-box, and speaking in a whisper, “the more he reminds me of one of the crown officers, called Captain Jack.”
This he said with a knowing wink to Phillip, who frowned.
Captain Jack heard the observation, and approached the speaker, and whispered in his ear,
“And now I come to look at you, my friend, the more I find you exactly correspond to a young gentleman as Captain Jack has been on the look-out for on the charge of forgery.”
The gallant blushed deeply, took a pinch of snuff, and bowed himself away.
“Not so fast, my friend,” said Captain Jack to him, as he whispered again. “You are in very snug quarters at present, and I don’t wish to disturb you; but if you know how to keep a still tongue in your head, while here in the company, so do I. You understand; is it a bargain?”
“I fear, my eccentric friend, that you have made a slight mistake,” said the elegantly-attired young gentleman, with a curling lip. “I know you not.”
“I have made no mistake,” was the whispered answer; “I can, you know, when I like, swear black’s white. But let me ask, do you know a certain person in the India House, a gay young spark about town, named Charles Warbeck?” said Captain Jack, winking.
The stranger tried to smile, but could not.