“You’ve got a ticket, haven’t you?”
“Ticket, hell. Yes, I’ve got a dam’ fine second mate’s ticket, for which I could get four pounds a month and find my own tobacco. Ticket, hell! Watch and watch, when it isn’t all hands, boxing another man’s yards around. Ticket, hell! At this job I’m pretty well my own master; sleep when I like, get drunk when I like, and see my girl when I like.”
“Are you married?”
“Married, hell.”
“Isn’t it a rather dangerous life? Things may have been slack, but they’re tautening up. I hear that Colonel Mackenzie is going to put an end to rum-running. The penalties are severe.”
“We’ve a stronger combination than some think.”
“I don’t doubt it. The combination is strengthening against you. Two torpedo-boats on the coast would stop you.”
“We’d buy them.”
“Not with Colonel Mackenzie.”
“We’d get them, then.”