The skipper hitched close to the table. “Lookee, lad,” said he, leaning over until his face was close to the face of Docks, “was you ever aboard the Sink or Swim?”
“Ay, sir,” Docks replied, at last, brushing his hair from his brow. “I was clerk aboard the Sink or Swim two days ago.”
For a time Skipper Billy quietly regarded the lad—the while scratching his beard with a shaking hand.
“Clerk,” Docks sighed, “two days ago.”
“Oh, was you?” the skipper asked. “Well, well!” His lower jaw dropped. “An’ would mind tellin’ us,” he continued, his voice now touched with passion, “what’s come o’ that damned craft?”
“She was lost on the Harbourless Shore, sir, with all hands—but me.”
“Thank God for that!”
“Ay, thank God!”
Whereupon the doctor vaccinated Docks.