"Be 'anged, I can't make a speech, after all," he grumbled; and
wheeling suddenly on Heywood, with a peevish air of having been
defrauded: "Aboard ship I could sit and think up no end o' flowery talk,
and now it's all gone!"
He stared at his plate miserably. It was Miss Drake who came to his
rescue.
"Tell us the secret," she begged. "How do you manage all these nice
things?"
The captain's eyes surveyed the motley collection down the length of the
bright table, then returned to her, gratefully:--
"This ain't anything. Only a little--bloomin'--"
"Impromptu," suggested Heywood.
"That's the word!" Captain Kneebone eyed them both with uncommon favor.
"That's it, ye know. I just 'opped about Saigong like a--jackdaw,
picking up these impromptus. But I came here all the way to break the
news proper, by word o' mouth."
He faced the company, and gathering himself for the effort,--
"I'm rich," he declared. "I'm da--I'm remarkable rich."
Pausing for the effect, he warmed to his oratory.
"It ain't for me to boast. Sailormen as a rule are bad hands to save
money. But I've won first prize in the Derby Sweepstake Lott'ry, and the
money's safe to my credit at the H.
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