Skipper John was disgusted.
"Ecod!" he ejaculated. "Then you didn't!"
"I didn't pop," said Dickie. "That is—not quite."
"Did you come into peril o' poppin'?"
"Well," Dickie admitted, "I brooded on it."
"Whew!" Skipper John ejaculated. "You brooded on it, did you? An' what happened then?"
"I—I hesitated."
"Well, well! Now that was cautious, wasn't it? An' why did you—hesitate?"
"Dang it!" Dickie complained, "t' hear you talk, a man might think that Peggy Lacey was the only maid in Scalawag Run. I'm willin' an' eager t' be wed. I jus' don't want t' make no mistake. That's all. Dang it, there's shoals o' maids hereabouts! An' I isn't goin' t' swallow the first hook that's cast my way. I'll take my time, sir, an' that's an end o' the matter."
"You're nigh twenty-one," Skipper John warned.