That was the wust part of it."
Captain Bob stopped, felt in his pocket for a match, found it empty,
rose from his chair, picked one from a match-safe on my desk, lighted
his cigar, and resumed his seat again. I have found it wisest to let him
have his own way in times like these. If I interrupt the flow of his
talk it may stop for the day, and I lose the best part of the enjoyment
of having him with me.
"Pretty decent chaps, them Englishmen"--puff-puff--the volume of smoke
was all right once more. "One Monday morning I ran out of the Navy Yard
dock within sight of the wreck. I had been layin' up over Sunday to get
out of the way of a norther, when I luffed a little too soon, and bang
went my bowsprit and scraped off about three feet of red paint from the
end of the dock. One of the watchmen was on the string-piece, and saw
the whole thing. 'Come ashore,' he says, 'and go and see the Admiral;
you can't scrape no paint off this dock with _my_ permission.'
"Well, I waited four hours for his nibs.
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