“Lookye here, mister,” said the American, grinning. “S’pose I say yes, you’ll jest confiscate that there schooner when her skipper and her crew slips over the side into the boats and pulls ashore.”
“Perhaps I may,” said the lieutenant shortly.
“Exackly so, mister. Then you sails away with her for a prize, eh?”
“Possibly,” said the lieutenant coldly.
“And what about me?”
“Well, what about you?”
“I can’t pull back to my rubber plantations and sail them away, can I?”
“I do not understand you, sir,” said the lieutenant sharply.
“No, and you don’t care to understand me, mister. ‘No,’ says you, ‘it’s no business of mine about his pesky injyrubby fields.’”
“Why should it be, sir?” said the lieutenant shortly.