“But could you as you are now—with clothes on, boots, and everything?”
“Sartin could I, and carry weight beside.”
“That will do,” rejoins the questioner, apparently satisfied. Then lapsing into silence, and leaving Dick in a very desert of conjectures why he has been so interrogated.
The speechless interregnum is not for long. After a minute or two, Rogier, as if freshly awaking from a reverie, again asks—
“Would it upset this skiff if I were to step on the side of it—I mean bearing upon it with all the weight of my body?”
“That would it, your Reverence; though ye be but a light weight; tip it over like a tub.”
“Quite turn it upside down—as your old truckle, eh?”
“Well; not so ready as the truckle. Still ’twould go bottom upward. Though a biggish boat, it be one o’ the crankiest kind, and would sure capsize wi’ the lightiest o’ men standin’ on its gunn’l rail.”
“And surer with a heavier one, as yourself, for instance?”
“I shouldn’t like to try—your Reverence bein’ wi’ me in the boat.”