"I mayn't know much about ploughin', Cai Hocken—" he began.
"Ah? Good day, Captain Hunken!" interposed Mrs Bosenna.
"Good-day to you, ma'am." He raised his hat without answering her smile. Then, with a gesture that dismissed the tactful interruption, "I mayn't know much about ploughin', though it sticks in my mind that as between us the judges handed me the stakes, even at that. But at handlin' a boat—one o' these here dingheys if you will, an' if you care to make good your words—"
"What was my words?"
"Oh, I beg pardon." 'Bias corrected himself with a snort of contempt. "'Peter Benny's words,' maybe I should have said: but 'education in a nutshell' was the expression."
"I'll take you up—when and where you please, and for any money,"
Cai challenged, white to the lips and shaking with rage.
"A five-pound note, if you will."
"As you please. . . . I haven't five pound here, upon me."
"Nor I, as it happens. But here's a sovereign for earnest."
"Here's another to cover it, anyway. Who'll hold the stakes? . . .
Will you, ma'am?" Cai appealed to Mrs Bosenna.