“I doubt it, captain. You don’t suppose I shall stand still during the next twelve years?”
“No, of course not, sir.”
“But this is not business, captain.”
“No, sir, it isn’t,” said that individual angrily; “and if I’d known that I was going to be played such an unbusinesslike trick you wouldn’t have caught me off Johnstown in my brig, I can tell you. I was as good as promised a full cargo of sugar back to Bristol, and I’m thrown overboard for the sake of saving a few dirty pounds by the agents here. But it ain’t my business.”
“And my proposal is, captain?”
“Well, I dunno, sir. You’ve come to me in a very pleasant, straightforward sort o’ way to make me what sounds like a good offer. But, you see, we’re strangers; I don’t know you.”
“And I did not know you till yesterday, when I was making enquiries about a vessel.”
“That’s right, sir. Well, you see, I’m a business man, and I always speak out straight what I mean.”
“Speak out then, captain.”
“Who may you be?”