“Lor’ bless you, sir, he’ll let you keep it, see if he don’t,” said the old sailor, and his words proved true.
Chapter Eighteen.
How Bob Roberts went a-fishing.
Bob Roberts liked having the monkey, but there was a sore side to the matter; it was unpleasant to hear that the first lieutenant had said that one monkey was enough in the ship, and they did not want two.
“It’s as good as telling me to my face that I’m a monkey,” said Bob to himself. “Now look here, I shall just go and ask him to lend me the dinghy to sit in and fish, and old Dick to manage it; and if he says no, I shall just tell him that his remark about the monkey was precious ungentlemanly.”
So Bob went up to the first lieutenant and preferred his request, fully anticipating a refusal, but to his surprise the officer in question was all that was urbane and pleasant.
“Fishing from the dinghy, eh, Roberts?” he said, smiling.
“Yes, sir, I thought I might catch a basket if I fished from the dinghy. I lose so many hauling them up the side into the chains.”