"Then the second booby let fly:
"'What an escape! A second longer and I should have been drowned——'
"'How terrible!' I put in brutally.
"'Terrible? Yes, you're right. Isn't the sea awful? I've never been in such danger in my life before.'
"'Nor ever will be again if you can help it, I expect,' I sneered.
"But their minds were too overwrought to take any notice of my brutal speeches.
"'I thought I should burst——' began the fattest.
"'I've often thought you'd do that,' I cut in cheerfully.
"'——from holding my breath so long,' he finished, eyeing me dismally.
"Well, the end of it all was, I got the unhappy trio below, battened 'em down, and weathered it out by my lonesome. Twenty-seven hours at the tiller! Ever since that cruise, whenever a man begins to talk about his life being in danger, I begin to get hot in the collar."