"'I'm not sayin' I would,' says Tom. 'You mark that.'
"'Ah, well, I'll grant it, anyhow.'
"'I been an industrious man all my life, Skipper Sam. None knows it better than you. Will you grant that I'd earn a hundred and fifty dollars a year if I lived?'
"'Ay, Tom.'
"Down come a gust o' wind.
"'Have done!' says one of the lads. 'Here's the gale come down with the dark. Us'll all be cast away.'
"'Rodney's mine, isn't she?' says Tom.
"Well, she was. Nobody could say nothin' t' that. An' nobody did.
"'That's three thousand dollars, Sam,' says Tom. 'Three—thousand—dollars!'
"'Ay,' says Sam, 'she calculates that way. But you've forgot t' deduct your livin' from the total. Not that I minds,' says he. ''Tis just a business detail.'