"'I have landed 'em as close as that,' says Ed.
"'But an old shipmate, Ed?' I says.
"'Now, Alec——'
"'Bill—Bill Whitely,' I says.
"'Well, Bill Whitely, then, though you'd better let me call you Alec. I think I'd shoot a bit wider thinking of Alec Corning than anybody named Bill Whitely. If you don't leave me any other way out of it, I'd maybe keep scraping the paint off you as long as I could.'
"'Your idea bein' to do the right thing by the Gover'ment in the end, Ed?'
"'That's it,' says Ed.
"'Well, Ed,' I says, 'if you should happen to see such a thing as a moving picture of the Hattie stealin' out to sea, and it's up to you to bring her to, say at five or six or eight thousand yards, just scrape the paint with the first two or three, will you, by way o' telling me how it's you, Ed?'
"'All right,' says Ed.
"'And we shook hands over that. 'And maybe the Gover'ment won't be losing anything at that,' I says.