The captain grunted, and turning suddenly surprised the eye of Mr. Walters fixed upon him with an odd, puzzled expression that he had noticed before that evening. Mr. Walters, caught in the act, ducked from sight, and recovered a crumb that was trying to pass itself off as a piece of china.
"What are you staring at me for?" demanded the captain.
"Me, sir?" said the boatswain. "I wasn't staring."
He rose with his hands full of pieces and retreated to the door. Almost against his will he stole another glance at the captain and blinked hastily at the gaze that met his own.
"If I've got a smut on my nose—" began the captain, ferociously.
"No, sir," said Mr. Walters, disappearing.
"Come here!" roared the other.
The boatswain came back reluctantly.
"If I catch you making those faces at me again," said the captain, whom the events of the last day or two had reduced to a state of chronic ill-temper, "I'll—I'll——"
"Yessir," said Mr. Walters, cheerfully. "I——"