"What! For four hours? I'll be hanged if you do! Four hours of letter from a man in your condition would prove deadly to the woman receiving it. I won't be party to such inhumanity."
"Will you go out?"
"No, I won't! I paid the ship people for half this cabin, and I'm going to assert my rights.... Keep off, Prince Charlie. If you put a finger on me I'll have you tried by court-martial, and sentenced to walk the plank!"
"Will you leave peaceably then?"
"No, I won't; keep off!"
Dick was thoroughly enjoying the situation now; his face was one huge beaming grin as he continued:
"Besides, I am going to write a letter myself. To my sister, warning her against the introduction of a lunatic into the family. She has been good to me, and I shall take this opportunity of making some return for it."
"You wrote your letter to her this morning on deck with the stub of a pencil. Go and write the other the same way."
"Shan't! Can't: want ink. Couldn't describe your vile character in pencil; such labour necessitates ink: black ink."
"Out you go!"