Bobstay (extending hand). Put it there; give us your flipper (they shake hands). All right. Here’s your hand and ’ere’s my head! Take a good hold of it, as if I was agoin’ down for the last time. Now, steady. (Charles takes hold of his wig, and Bobstay seizes his beard.) Let fall all! (He stands back, pulling off whiskers. Charles pulls off wig.)
Charles. Uncle Bobstay!
Bobstay. Hush! Easy, Charley, easy. Bobstay of the Indigo Blue, he went up—no, down—leastwise he went off. I’m a sperit, you understand? I’m the Ancient Mariner—Captain Kyd—the Great Unknown—anything you please but Bobstay. He mysteriously disappeared; let him be missed.
Charles. But what have you been doing? What’s the trouble?
Bobstay. A deep one—deeper than the sea. Hush! Put it there (shakes hands). There’s a woman at the bottom.
Charles. At the bottom of the sea? Good gracious!
Bobstay. No. I wish she was, Charley. Put it there (shakes hands). You’ve heard me speak of Spanker, skipper of the Venetian Red?
Charles. Many a time. He was a particular friend of yours, I believe.
Bobstay. Charley, listen to a tale that would make the marines blush. When I reached Valparaiso on my last run, I found the Venetian Red there before me; but I found that Spanker had “mysteriously disappeared.”[A] His hat and coat were found upon the pier, and he was supposed to be beneath the waves.
[A] A wink and finger on side of nose when these words are used through the play.