When they got on board one of them said, "We just want to give you the once over, mate."
Oh, didn't my heart go down to my feet. I thought it would be all right if I didn't stay around because they couldn't ask me any questions if I wasn't there. And I was on the side of Lieutenant Donnelle, I didn't care what. So I went into the galley and began straightening things out there. After a little while Westy came and stuck his head in through the window.
"Are they gone?" I asked him.
"Sure," he said.
Then I said, "What did they want?"
"They were only just inspectors," he said; "and they wanted to know if we had power."
"You mean an engine?" I asked him. "Sure," he said, "because if a boat has a fixed engine, it has to have a license and a certain kind of whistle and bell and lights and all that."
"A fixed engine?" I said, "if we had one it probably wouldn't be fixed."
"They meant a stationary engine," he said, "you crazy Indian."
"What else did they say?" I asked, because I was still kind of nervous.