“Want commission.”
“Oh, nonsense! I couldn’t pay on commission.”
“Nowt to me. That’s what a skipper would want. Ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“Well, of all—” began the doctor; but the skipper did not let him finish.
“Too bad,” he said, growling; “and to take a boy like that!”
“My good fellow,” said the doctor, “if I choose to take my nephew with me upon a natural history expedition—”
“Natural history expedition! Catching blackbirds! Oh, I say!”
He shook his head slowly at the doctor, whose face grew so red with wrath as he turned towards Rodd, and looked so comical, that the boy could not contain himself, but bent his face down into his hands and burst into a roar of laughter.
“You are a nice ’un,” grunted the captain, shaking his head now at Rodd. “You’ll grow into a beauty!”
It was the boy’s turn to look angry now, and he glanced from the captain to his uncle and back.