“Or anyone else, sir,” growled the captain. “I’d rather have a set-to with one of the tigers here.”
“Tigers!” cried Brace; “there are no tigers in the New World.”
“They call ’em tigers here, sir, though they’ve got spots instead of stripes. Jaggers I suppose is the proper name. Fierce beasts they are too. But poisonous snakes—ugh! They give me the creeps. But there, these things always get away from you if they can.”
“Let us change the subject,” said Sir Humphrey; “I am quite satisfied with your men’s judgment, Captain Banes, and I daresay we shall become very good friends.”
“Of course, sir,” said the bluff man addressed. “I’ll answer for them, as I told them I’d answer for you two gents. By the way, I hear the Yankee chap wants to charter a vessel for some such a voyage as you gentlemen mean to make.”
“Yes,” said Sir Humphrey; and the brothers related their interviews of the morning.
“Want’ll have to be his master,” said the captain, who had listened, smiling grimly during the narration. “I don’t see myself going on such a trip with him. I took a dislike to that chap as soon as I saw him. Well, I wish him luck. Then if it’s all the same to you, gentlemen, I’ll have your stores on board a bit late in the afternoon when the sun’s getting lower, and— Well, now! look at that. Think he heard what I said?”
“I hope not,” said Sir Humphrey quietly. “It’s as well not to excite people’s dislike by making remarks about their appearance before them.”
“Right, sir,” said the captain. “That’s one for me.”
“I beg your pardon, Captain Banes,” cried Sir Humphrey earnestly. “I did not mean to—”