Capt. K. "Certainly" (lighting his cigar). "You newspaper men haven't given me a fair show. There's a heap of lying going on about me. They are hounding me—that's a fact. I've got the evidence to prove that I'm an injured man. I have a clear conscience, that's one comfort."
Rep. "A great comfort, no doubt. May I ask, captain, what particular falsehood has gained currency?"
Capt. K. "Yes, sir. I will name one that is an unmitigated slander. They say that when I came across Moore and corrected him with a bucket for his impertinence, he was grinding a chisel. Now, sir, that is as false as ——!"
Rep. "Indeed?"
Capt. K. "Yes, sir, 'twas a screwdriver."
Rep. "That shall be corrected, captain. Anything else?"
Capt. K. "Yes, sir—a bigger lie still. There is a scurrilous broadside circulating all over the country. Here it is." (He handed me a copy of verses printed in the Herald of last Tuesday.) "Read that, if you please, sir: 'My name is Robert Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed.' Now, sir, that is a villainous falsehood."
Rep. "You didn't sail under that name, then, captain?"
Capt. K. "Never. Why, bless your innocent heart, my baptismal name is William. It is of a piece with all their malignant lying, this persisting in calling me Robert."
Rep. "It is hard." (Pause.) "Pray, captain, permit me to ask if the story is true that Mrs. Kidd's trunk was seized by the authorities, and kept with its contents of gold-dust and diamonds?"