“Oh, well, if you will have it—only don’t blame me afterwards for letting it out.”
“What did he say?” repeated the boy.
“It was while he had got a very bad fit of the shivers on, and the poor fellow’s teeth were all of a chatter with the fever.”
“I think your teeth seem to be all of a chatter,” snarled the midshipman fiercely.
“Ha, ha! You are a wonderful deal better, Queen’s man,” cried Poole merrily.
“Have you come down here like the rest to insult and trample on me?” cried Fitz, springing to his feet.
“Ah, now you are getting yourself again.”
“I insist upon your telling me what that man Burgess said.”
“What he said? Well, he said you were a plucked ’un and no mistake.”
“Bah!” ejaculated Fitz, and there was silence for a few moments, during which Poole thrust his head out of the cabin-window to give his companion time to calm down.