"'O' course not,' sez I to he, sez I. 'Ye ain't expected to git to wind'ard. You're expected to be down here a-tryin' to double this 'ere cape in a gale o' wind an' gittin' blowed back.'
"'Waal, my son,' sez he to me, sez he, 'we got all that old story changed now. That's wot used to happen to me, but it don't happen no more. I got a steamer now, an' I can git to wind'ard in putty poor weather. An' as for doublin' this 'ere cape, I jess do that two or three times a year fur my health, an' to keep up my repitation. It wouldn't do fur me never to be seed down here at all; 'cos w'y, a lot o' you ignerent sailor-men'd git so ye wouldn't b'lieve in me, an' then my occupation'd be gone. I jess showed up fur you as a matter o' business, an' I'm sure I give you a mighty good show, too. An' now here you are a-grumblin' an' a-kickin' an' a-talkin' about throwin' me overboard. Not as I'd mind bein' in the sea werry much, 'cos ye can't drown me, ye know. But I got feelin's, I have, an' I don't like to be treated bad by nobody at all, I don't.'
"An' blow me fur pickles ef the old willain didn't pull out his hankercher an' wipe his eyes jess like he were a-cryin'.
"'Ef you don't want to hear hard words from sailor-men,' sez I to he, sez I, 'don't go fur to come fur to appear to 'em off this 'ere cape an' bring on foul weather an' shipwrack.'
"'Ah, say,' sez he, takin' the hankercher from his eyes and commencin' fur to laff ag'in, 'd' you b'lieve that tommy-rot?'
"'Wot!' sez I, 'ain't you the cause o' this 'ere weather?'
"'Naw-w-w,' sez he, disgusted like.
"'Waal,' sez I, 'you're the sign o' 't.'
"'Not edzackly,' sez he. 'I allers turn on my show w'en there's bad weather comin'. I got to. I got to keep up my repitation. W'y, wot'd Herne the Hunter, the Erl-King, the Headless Horseman, an' old Mother Erda think o' me ef I didn't attend to business? I'd git kicked out o' respectable spook society, an' w'ere in goodness'd I go then?'
"There not seemin' to be no fittin' answer to that there inquiry, I didn't make none. No more did Hiram Sink, him havin' lost his breath w'en Vanderdecken first came aboard, an' not bein' able to speak.