'Mais oui,' said Frenchy.
'You think all creation of her, I suppose?'
'We fight like four cats and one dog; she is the cats,' said the Frenchman concisely.
'You don't say so!' replied Jack. 'Now, I never had a sister,—but I thought perhaps—' He paused, and the sentence remained unfinished.
'The Nightingale and I were housemates. We sat late over our fire not long after that; I gave a gigantic yawn. 'This lifting logs half the night is enough to kill one,' I said, getting out my jug. Sing something, Jack. It's a long time since I've heard anything but hymns.'
'Jack always went off as easily as a music-box: you only had to wind him up; the jug was the key. I soon had him in full blast. He was giving out
'The minute gun at sea,—the minute gun at sea,'
with all the pathos of his tenor voice, when the door burst open and the whole population rushed in upon us.
'What do you mean by shouting thes way, in the middle of the night?'
'Shut up your howling, Jack.'