“Take you care, Mr Cheeks. Well, now, what are the rest of your crew about?”
“Why, Thompson and Waters are cutting out the pales for the garden, out of the jib-booms; I’ve saved the heel to return.”
“Very well, but there won’t be enough, will there?”
“No, sir, it will take a hand-mast to finish the whole.”
“Then we must expend one when we go out again. We can carry away a topmast, and make a new one out of the hand-mast at sea. In the meantime, if the sawyers have nothing to do, they may as well cut the palings at once. And now, let me see—oh! the painters must go on shore, to finish the attics.”
“Yes, sir, but my Lady Capperbar wishes the jealowsees to be painted vermilion: she says, it will look more rural.”
“Mrs Capperbar ought to know enough about ship’s stores, by this time, to be aware that we are only allowed three colours. She may choose or mix them as she pleases; but as for going to the expense of buying paint, I can’t afford it. What are the rest of the men about?”
“Repairing, the second cutter, and making a new mast for the pinnace.”
“By the bye—that puts me in mind of it—have you expended any boat’s masts?”
“Only the one carried away, sir.”