"He'll con the ship all right," said another sailor, who had not spoken before, and who answered to the nickname of Slippery Sim (his real name being Simeon Nelson). "I knew him in Montpelier, and I know you can depend on him every time."
"In Montpelier?" said the boatswain's mate. "Why, that was about Bill Ammon's latitude and longitude, if my reckoning's right."
"It was, exactly," said Nelson.
"Then he ought to have known Dewey too," said the boatswain's mate.
"Know him?" said Nelson. "I should say he did know him. The most famous of all the fights that ever took place among our boys was between him and Dewey."
"Did you see it?" said the sailmaker eagerly.
"I did," said Nelson in an impressive tone. "I had the honor of holding Ammon's coat."
"And which licked?" asked the sailmaker.
"Hold on!" said the boatswain's mate. "Don't answer that question. Never spoil a good story by telling it stern foremost. Give us the whole narratyve from beginning to end, and don't let us know which licked till you get to the very last. If those two fellows were at it, I know it must have been a tug. A good description of it ought to brace us up for the lively fight that's before us."
"Yes," said another, "it may be the last story that some of us will ever hear."