"
He walked back to the cabin; and the new cook was slowly pushed toward
the galley by the second officer, the new A. B., under the same gentle
guidance, being conducted back to the forecastle.
Fortunately for the new seamen the weather continued fine, but the heat
of the galley was declared by the new cook to be insupportable. From the
other hands they learned that they had been shipped with several others
by a resourceful boarding-house master. The other hands, being men of
plain speech, also said that they were brought aboard in a state of
beastly and enviable intoxication, and chaffed crudely when the doctor
attributed their apparent state of intoxication to drugs.
"You say you're a doctor?" said the oldest seaman.
"I am," said Carson, fiercely.
"Wot sort of a doctor are you, if you don't know when your licker's been
played with, then?" asked the old man, as a grin passed slowly from mouth
to mouth.
"I suppose it is because I drink so seldom," said the doctor, loftily.
"I hardly know the taste of liquor myself, while as for my friend Mr.
Thomson, you might almost call him a teetotaler.
"Next door to one," said the solicitor, who was sewing a patch on his
trousers, as he looked up approvingly.
"You might call 'im a sailor, if you liked," said another seaman, "but
that wouldn't make him one.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25