“Hang the captain!” growled Tom.
“Hang the major, then!” said Bob sharply.
“You may hang them both, if you like,” said Tom.
“I should like to kris them all over, till they looked like skewered chickens ready for the spit,” said Bob. “I say, ain’t it an awful shame?”
“Shame, yes,” said Tom Long, slightly mollified by his companion’s sympathy. “I don’t see why one of us two should be left out of the party. It isn’t much pleasure we get.”
“No,” said Bob sharply; “but I think if one of us was to go it ought to have been this young person.”
“Well, but you are going, aren’t you?” said Tom Long.
“Not I,” said Bob. “I’m second officer on board HMS ‘Startler’ till they come back, that’s all.”
“But, my dear Bob, I thought you were going. Old Dick, who was ashore an hour ago, told me you were.”
“Then old Dick told you a cram,” said Bob. “He said you were going, though.”