"No, I thank you; I never take any," I replied, disgusted with his manner and his invitation.
"You hain't been to sea all this time without learnin' to take your grog?" he continued, with a coarse laugh.
"I never drank a drop in my life, and I don't mean to do so," I answered.
"You'll learn in good time. Set down, Sandy, and tell me where you've been."
I told him in as few words as possible where I had been, and answered all his questions about my passengers. Then he told me he lived over the saloon, and insisted that I should go up and see the "old woman." I was a little curious to see Mrs. Boomsby, and I followed him up-stairs.
CHAPTER VIII.
A DISAGREEABLE ROOM-MATE.
I had not seen Mrs. Boomsby for several years; and though I had no reason to expect anything but abuse from her, my curiosity induced me to see her. If anything, she was more of a tyrant than her brutal husband, and I had no occasion to thank her for anything she had done for me. She was the more plucky of the pair, and it had surprised me, years before, to learn that she "ruled the roost." At that time the captain was actually afraid of her.
"You have got pretty well up in the world, Captain Boomsby," I said when we had gone up two flights of stairs and were about to ascend a third.