“But you know his highly respectable and wealthy relations will doubtless see to all that,” replied the captain, with his funny look again.
“Oh! yes, I forgot that,” said Mr. Jones, looking rather foolish. “His friends will of course see to that.”
“Of course,” said the captain smiling.
“Of course,” repeated Mr. Jones, looking ruefully at the patch on my pantaloons, which just then I endeavored to hide with the skirt of my shooting-jacket.
“You are quite a sportsman I see,” said the captain, eying the great buttons on my coat, upon each of which was a carved fox.
Upon this my benevolent friend thought that here was a grand opportunity to befriend me.
“Yes, he’s quite a sportsman,” said he, “he’s got a very valuable fowling-piece at home, perhaps you would like to purchase it, captain, to shoot gulls with at sea? It’s cheap.”
“Oh! no, he had better leave it with his relations,” said the captain, “so that he can go hunting again when he returns from England.”
“Yes, perhaps that would be better, after all,” said my friend, pretending to fall into a profound musing, involving all sides of the matter in hand. “Well, then, captain, you can only give the boy three dollars a month, you say?”
“Only three dollars a month,” said the captain.