When he reached the deck and wheeled around
to look at me you just ought to have seen his face.
"'Are you the Captain?' he says, and he looked me over 'bout as the
admiral had done.
"'I be,' I said, 'Captain Robert Brandt, of Pigeon Cove, Cape Ann,
master and owner of the sloop Screamer, at your service'--I kep' front
side to him. 'What can I do for you?'
"'Well, Captain,' he began, 'perhaps it is none of our business, but the
Captain of the brig here,' and he pointed up above him, 'has asked us to
look over your tackle and see whether it is safe enough to lift this
stone. He's afraid you'll drop it and smash his deck in. Since I've seen
it, and what you propose to lift it with, I've told him there's no
danger, for you'll never get it off the deck. We are both officers of
the Engineering Corps, and it is our business to know about
such things.'
"'What makes you think the Screamer won't lift it?' I asked.
"'Well,' says the Colonel, looking aloft, 'her boom ain't big enough,
and that Manila rope is too light.
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