“There’s one thing I likes in a gen’leman. Some chaps says they’ll do something, or as they’ll pay yer, and they swear it, and then most times they don’t; but if a gen’leman says he’ll do anything, there yer are, yer knows he’ll do it—without a bit of swearing too. But, haw—haw—haw—haw!”
The boys stared, for the old man burst out into a tremendous roar of laughter, and kept on lifting one leg and stamping it down.
“Why, what are you laughing at?” said Mike, gaining courage now that the trouble was so amicably settled.
“What am I laughin’ at?” roared the old fellow, stamping again: “why, at you two! Comes to me and wants to borrow my boat, and boasts and brags and holloas about as to how you knows everything. We can sail her, says you; we knows how to manage a boat as well as you do, and, haw, haw, haw! you helps yourselves and goes out, and brings her back with a hole in her bottom. Here! where did you go?”
“Oh, along where you took us,” said Vince quickly.
“And which rock did you run on?”
“Oh, I don’t know what rock it was, only that it was just under water.”
“’Course not. Says to me, says you, that you knows all the rocks as well ’s me, and goes and runs her on one on ’em fust time.”
“Well, it was an accident, Joe.”
“Ay, my lads, it were an accident; but you’ve got to think yourselves very lucky as she didn’t founder. Did you have to bale?”