"You ain't all so soft as you look," said Simpkins, "but the sea does bring the devil out in a man if so be he's got any."
And they carried Captain Joseph Prowse down below. As his cabin door would not lock, they jammed short pieces of sawed lumber between it and the other side of the alley way.
"It's mutiny," said Simpkins, "but it's done, and maybe he'll cool off when he comes to and finds his 'ead aching."
But nevertheless the situation was not pleasant, and no one was quite certain as to what should be done.
"Hold a committee meeting," said the entomologist.
The others said that was nonsense. Simpkins, who now looked on the geologist as captain of the mutineers, touched his hat to him, and begged leave to speak.
"Well," said the geologist, "what is it?"
"Ain't some of you gents good at instruments?" asked Simpkins. "For if you are, and if you could get hold of a sextant, it would be doin' things regular if you was to take a sight of the sun."
The ethnologist turned to the astronomer.
"How humanity yearns for a certain regularity!" he said; "it would really comfort Simpkins if you would squint at the sun through a gaspipe."