"This is not the first time I have been taken for a gentleman," said he, as soon as he was in condition to speak.
"Then you think I made a mistake, do you?" I asked.
"By no means: I have not sunk so low as that yet; and I still believe I am a gentleman, whatever anybody else may think."
He paused, and I waited for him to proceed with his business, instead of asking him what he meant, as he evidently expected me to do.
"Yes, captain: I claim to be a gentleman," he continued, when I showed no inclination to ask any questions. "I belong to the legal profession, though I don't work at it now."
"I am sure we don't need any law on board of this vessel at the present time," I added.
"I do not offer my services in that capacity. I am a native Floridian, a regular corn-cracker," he continued, laughing. "I was born and raised here in St. Augustine. There is not a river, lake, harbor or inlet in all Florida, and hardly a square mile of territory, that I have not explored."
"As a lawyer?" I asked; and his plump statement rather attracted my attention.
"Certainly not. When I was seventeen I began to study for the bar; but my health broke down, and for the next ten years I roamed over the state, now at my own expense, and then as a member of the state surveying party, or the government coast-survey. I am a pilot for any waters in Florida."
"Have you a branch or a warrant?"