“I do. Are you one?”
“Yes, I jist guess I am. Bin a cook for fifteen year.”
“Been to sea as a cook?” inquired the captain.
“I jist have. Once to the South Seas, twice to the North, an’ once round the world. Cook all the time. I’ve roasted, and stewed, and grilled, and fried, and biled, right round the ’arth, I have.”
Being apparently satisfied with the man’s account of himself, Captain Dunning put to him the question—“Do you drink?”
“Ay, like a fish; for I drinks nothin’ but water, I don’t. Bin born and raised in the State of Maine, d’ye see, an’ never tasted a drop all my life.”
“Very good,” said the captain, who plumed himself on being a clever physiognomist, and had already formed a good opinion of the man. “Do you ever swear?”
“Never, but when I can’t help it.”
“And when’s that?”
“When I’m fit to bu’st.”