"Of course I'm not!" Captain Cai protested warmly.
"Then I don't see what excuse you'll put up. . . . But wait till we get all this cargo stowed. Ahoy, there!" Captain Tobias called up the porters, and after consultation it was decided to convert the goods-shed into a cloak-room for housing the bulk of his luggage, but to send on his sea-chest and the birdcage by wheelbarrow to his lodgings.
"What's the address?" he asked, turning to Captain Cai.
"Ship Inn."
"What?" Captain Tobias paused in the act of picking up the nine-gallon jar. "Drinks on the premises?"
"Lashin's."
"What a world o' fuss that arrangement do save! Here!—" to the porter who stood checking the articles deposited—"this goes into hold wi' the rest. Contents, rum, an' don't you forget it, my son; leastways, pr'aps I'd better say, don't you remember it."
"I'm a total abstainer, sir," said the porter proudly.
"You don't tell me? . . . One meets with such cases, about. . . . Well,"—Captain Tobias turned to Captain Cai again, as one averting his face from a sorrow to which no help can be proffered—"what's the distance?"
"To the Ship? About half a mile—a nice easy walk, an' the barrow can follow us."