"The little nipper," says the skipper. "His fist tapped the tip o' my nose!"
I laughed outright at that. 'Twas a good rebound from the start I had had.
"What stirred his wrath?"
"It might be one thing that I knows of," says I, "an' it might be another that I could guess."
"I'm puzzled, Tumm."
"As for me, I've the eyes of a hawk, sir," says I, "with which t' search a mystery like this."
"That you has!" says he.
I was fond o' Skipper Harry. He was a perceivin' man. An' I've no mind t' withhold the opinion I maintain t' that effect.
"You've fathomed the lad's rage?" says he.
"An I was still shrewder," says I, "I'd trust a surmise an' lay a wager that I was right."