"You've been drinking, Benjamin."
"What if I have! I'm not going to stay here, and play second fiddle to a little boy."
"What are you talking about, Benjamin? Lawry has not interfered with you. He will treat you kindly and respectfully, as he treats everybody."
"He don't mind any more what I say than he does the grunting of the pigs."
"What do you want him to do?"
"I want him to pay some attention to what I say," snarled Ben. "I suppose he thinks that steamboat belongs to him."
"Certainly he does," replied Mrs. Wilford.
"I don't."
"Don't you? Whom does it belong to, then?"
"I'm not a fool, mother; I know a thing or two as well as some others. Lawry is not of age."