"Reckon you'll have ter take my word fer it," he replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
"Well, it's lucky you didn't let your business hold you a minute longer or you'd lost your berth," the captain snapped as the mate turned away.
"Josh had been looking on the wine when it was red," Bob told Jack a few minutes later. "Only it was stronger than wine."
"How do you know?"
"I got a whiff of his breath as he passed me after his setto with the captain."
"Then it's no wonder he wouldn't tell him what was the cause of the delay."
"We're going to have trouble with him before this voyage is over," Bob said in a low tone.
"What makes you think so?" Jack asked anxiously.
"Don't know, but I feel it in my bones."
"Then I wish he'd waited a little longer."