“That’s good,” says he, emphatically; “that’s very good. I ’low I’ve fetched ye up very well.”

Judith came with the bottle and little brown jug: she had displaced me from this occupation.

“O’ course,” says my uncle, in somewhat doubtful and ungenerous invitation, “ye’ll be havin’ a little darn ol’ rum with a ol’ shipmate. Ye’ve doubtless learned manners abroad,” says he.

’Twas a delight to hear the fond fellow tempt me against his will: I smiled.

“Jus’ a little darn, Dannie,” he repeated, but in no convivial way. “Jus’ a little nip––with a ol’ shipmate?”

I laughed most heartily to see Judith’s sisterly concern for me.

“A wee drop?” my uncle insisted, more confidently.

“I’m not used to it, sir,” says I.

269

“That’s good,” he declared; “that’s very good. Give the devil his due, Dannie: I’ve fetched ye up very well.”