“You had a vite jacket?”
“Yes, sir. I made a kind of a life preserver out of it.”
Tom suspected that they had seen him long before he had seen them and that they had watched his struggles in the water.
“Steward’s poy, huh?”
“I was captain’s mess boy. The railing was broke and I never noticed it, so I fell overboard. I don’t think anybody else got hurt,” he added.
The man twirled his mustache, still with his keen eyes fixed on Tom.
“You bring ofer a lot of droops?” It was a question, but he did not keep his voice raised at the end, as one asking a question usually does. In this sense a German never asks a question. He seemed to be making an announcement and expecting Tom to confirm it.
“Quite a lot,” said Tom.
“Two thousand, huh?”
“I couldn’t count them, there were so many.”