Now whether the Bo'sun saw aught of this, who shall say, but old eyes see many things. And thus, perhaps, the sigh that escaped the battered old man-o'-war's man's lips was only because of his own vanished youth—his gray head and wooden leg, after all.
CHAPTER X
WHICH DESCRIBES A PERIPATETIC CONVERSATION
"Sir," said his Lordship, after they had gone some way in silence, "you are thoughtful, not to say, devilish grave!"
"And you," retorted Barnabas, "have sighed—three times."
"No, did I though?—why then, to be candid,—I detest saying 'Good-by!'—and I have been devoutly wishing for two pair of muffles, for, sir, I have taken a prodigious liking to you—but—"
"But?" inquired Barnabas.
"Some time since you mentioned the names of two men—champions both—ornaments of the 'Fancy'—great fighters of unblemished reputation."
"You mean my—er—that is, Natty Bell and John Barty."
"Precisely!—you claim to have—boxed with them, sir?"