“I met Cap’n Hargreaves as I was a-coming up,” he said; “and I explained to him your ideas on the subject, an’ he went straight back, as straight as he could go, to make out his disbursement sheet.”
“Ah! we shall soon have things on a better footing now,” said the governor, unfolding the paper, while the skipper gazed abstractedly through the small, dirty panes of the office window at the bustle on the quay below.
For a short space there was silence in the office, broken only by the half-audible interjections of the reader. Then he spoke.
“Simmons!” he said sharply.
The old clerk slipped from his stool, and obeying the motions of his employer, inspected, in great astonishment, the first disbursement sheet which had ever entered the office. He read through every item in an astonished whisper, and, having finished, followed the governor’s example and gazed at the heavy figure by the window.
“Captain Fazackerly,” said his employer, at length, breaking a painful silence.
“Sir,” said the captain, turning his head a little.
“I’ve been talking with Simmons about these disbursement sheets,” said the owner, somewhat awkwardly; “Simmons is afraid they’ll give him a lot of extra trouble.”
The captain turned his head a little more, and gazed stolidly at the astonished Simmons.
“A man oughtn’t to mind a little extra trouble if the firm wishes it,” he said, somewhat severely.