“Nobody denies it,” said Captain Nugent, looking round.
One captain agreed with him.
“Why don't they act like it, then?” demanded the other.
Nugent and the first captain, struck by the remark, thought they had perhaps been too hasty in their admission, and waited for number two to continue. They eyed him with silent encouragement.
“Why don't they act like it, then?” repeated number two, who, being a man of few ideas, was not disposed to waste them.
Captain Nugent and his friend turned to the harbour-master to see how he would meet this poser.
“They mostly do,” he replied, sturdily. “Treat a seaman well, and he'll treat you well.”
This was rank heresy, and moreover seemed to imply something. Captain Nugent wondered dismally whether life ashore would infect him with the same opinions.
“What about that man of mine who threw a belaying-pin at me?”
The harbour-master quailed at the challenge. The obvious retort was offensive.