Patch: He 's tauntin' yer, Captain. Hand him the hook! The Duke and me is back o' yer.
Joe: Do you fear to cheat the gibbet on Wapping wharf? A knife 's a sweeter end. Who comes first? I 'll help him across the Styx. Or sink or swim! Flint waits in hell for three whelps to join his crew.
Patch: Captain, I 'm 'sprized at yer good nater. Scrape him one!
Joe: Who comes to the barber first? Cowards! I 'll ram your pigtails down your throats. I 'll wash your dirt in blood.
(The Duke proves to be the strategist. He has edged to the rear of the cabin. He circles behind Red Joe. And now in a flash he leaps on him. Joe is buried under the three pirates, for Patch's valor returns when Joe is down. Joe is tied with ropes and fastened to an upright at the chimneyside. This is the terrible, glorious moment, now that the fight is over, when the actor-manager, as I first read the play—as explained in the preface (you really must read the preface)—turned his excited somersault down the carpet.)
Patch: Did yer notice, Captain, how I took him by the throat? He was squirmin' loose when I grabbed him. It was me tripped him.
Duke: Captain, I asks yer a favor. Can I stick him now. Dead men tell no tales.
Patch: Captain, yer jest makes a pet o' the Duke. Ain 't it my turn? I gets rusty.
Darlin': Let the Duke do it. He has more reasons than Patch.
