"Where am I?" he asked.
"On board the 'Ampshire, sonny," said Tom. "Come, show a leg!"
"Humph!" said Gawthrop, and he rolled a dry tongue against his teeth. "Am I asleep?"
"I'll lay odds you won't be in ten minutes," said Tom. "What's the game you're playin'?"
Gawthrop stared at him and rolled his eyes round the foc'sle. He saw fifteen grinning faces in the light from the scuttle above. Outside the open foc'sle door he beheld the foremast, with its rail and the gear coiled on the pins.
"It's a ship," said Gawthrop, "it's obviously a ship!"
The men looked at each other.
"D'ye think he's a greenhorn?"
"Hocussed!"
"Shanghaied!"