The sailor agreed with effusive heartiness to all that he said, and Dan thought while he was speaking—orating—as one of the American settlers would have expressed it—that Jenkins wore a peculiar expression on his manly countenance. Attributing it to unusual interest in the event, he continued—
“Now, Fred, I want you to be my best-man—”
“Unpossible—quite unpossible,” interrupted the seaman with a grave shake of the head.
“How—impossible!”
“Ab-so-lutely unpossible.”
“But why? Explain yourself, Fred.”
“’Cause it’s only a bachelor as can be a best-man to a bachelor—ain’t it?”
“I believe so, though I’m no authority in such matters; but surely that is a matter of no importance, for you are a bachelor, you know.”
“True, that’s what I am to-day, but I won’t be that long, for I am goin’ to be married next month, so I won’t be available, d’ee see, the month after.”
“You—married!—to whom?” exclaimed Dan in amazement.