"Where's the captain?" they asked in a breath.
"Faith, an' he's changed ships, if ye please," said Chips.
"And left a little thing behind he would have liked to have taken with him," I said.
"What was the matter?" they both asked.
Chips and I tried to tell, but we soon made a tangle of it, the only thing coherent being the fact that the fellow was a crook and had left his trunk behind. This was so heavy that Chips had failed to lift it.
"I always knew he was not a sea-captain," cried Jennie. "I don't see how you men let him fool you so badly."
Chips and I looked at the mate, but he simply scratched his head.
"Discipline is discipline," he said. "He ware capting o' this here ship, an' there ware no way to do but obey his orders. No, sir, discipline is discipline, an' the sooner ye get it through your heads, the better."
"But he isn't captain any longer," I said.
"Well, I don't know about that," said Trunnell. "If he ain't a-comin' back, he ain't capting, sure. But ye can't tell nothin' about it. He may come aboard agin in a little while an' want to know why we didn't wait dinner for him."