"You are incorrigible, Dick."
"I like that! For pure and adulterated cheek, that annexes Huntley & Palmers' entire factory! I am viciously assaulted by a rabid lunatic. I am deprived of the use of ink and paper purchased with my own hard coin. I am thrown out of my cabin. And the man guilty of these foul crimes coolly stands in front of me with a pipe and a jeering remark in his mouth. Incorrigible!"
"My dear old Dick——"
Masters commenced a speech so; putting his hand on the boy's shoulder affectionately. He was interrupted by the cry of:
"Hands off!"
Dick assumed an appearance of abject fear, shivering like a calves-foot jelly. It was belied by the grin he could not keep off his face as he continued:
"No more of your affection! I want to walk ashore. I don't want to be carried on a stretcher, maimed for life."
Masters was in earnest: deadly earnest. He wished he could get his companion to veer round from his frivolous mood. There was a slight frown on his face, as he said:
"Will you be serious, Dick?"
The boy was not insensible to the intonation of the words. Looked up, saying: