"What do you mean, Bobtail?"
"That depends upon what you mean, Captain Chinks."
"I don't understand you, Bobtail," said the visitor, struggling to suppress his anger.
"That's just my trouble; I don't understand you," laughed the skipper. "I reckon we don't understand each other at all."
"I asked you a question, Bobtail, and I want an answer," added the captain, bringing his fist down upon the table-leaf, whose mysterious mechanism he had by this time fully mastered.
"I asked you a question, Captain Chinks, and I want an answer," replied Bobtail.
"I don't want any of your impudence, and I won't take any of it."
"I didn't mean to be impudent, sir."
"But you talk to me just as though I was a boy like yourself. Now, answer my question."
"I hope you will excuse me, sir, when I say I can't answer it. I mean to be respectful, sir."