Rodd moved towards the skipper as he came up, and as the latter looked at him inquiringly he began—
“You heard what my uncle said, captain?”
“What about, my lad?”
“Letting me have some powder to play with.”
“Ay, ay! But you don’t want that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I wish you would have a canister and let the men load the gun properly.”
“Eh?”
“It would be like practice.”
“Well, that’s true. But it would be only waste of powder; and I’m not going to waste any of the cannon balls.”
“No, I don’t want you to do that.”