“Could ye do it again?”
“I generally make six bull’s-eyes in six shots at that distance with my own rifle,” was the reply, not delivered at all boastingly, but as a simple statement of facts.
“So you’ve got a rifle of your own, eh?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ever get seasick?”
“No, sir.”
“Can ye be ready to start in an hour’s time?”
“I shall be ready as soon as I get an outfit,” answered Phil.
“Very good; let’s go ashore and get it at once. Hold hard, though! There’s the paper to be signed first.”
So Captain Duff re-entered the cabin, where with labored penmanship he added [an article] to one of the ship’s papers, [which Phil signed without reading it]. His signature was witnessed by Jalap Coombs, mate of the Seamew, and by Serge Belcofsky.