"Well," says I, "did you succeed in getting him to think the same as yourself?"
"Yes," says he, "but I may get arrested any minute for assult and battery, and they'll fine me not less than five dollars."
I don't think I ever told you of the awful time I had, when I went yachting with my friend Rufus Sage, did I?
Oh! It was a swell time, indeed.
It began to swell the minute we struck the swell outside the harbor, and my poetic soul swelled up within me in great shape.
I was leaning over the rail looking at the beautiful green waves and the reflection of my beautiful face in them (no, I wasn't doing anything else), when my dear friend, Rufus, came to me and said:
"Cheer up, old man, things will get pleasanter, when the moon comes up."
"Darnation," says I, "it has come up, if I ever swallowed it."
Right after that, we encountered a most terrific gale. The wind blew, the storm howled, the ship tossed, and the lightning flashed. In fact, we were in a devil of a mess all around.