"I don't require to tell you the game's up?" Nares
asked.
"No," said I.
"I was thinking of getting to sea to-morrow," he
pursued.
"The best thing you can do," said I.
"Shall we say Honolulu?" he inquired.
"O, yes; let's stick to the programme," I cried.
"Honolulu be it!"
There was another silence, and then Nares cleared his
throat.
"We've been pretty good friends, you and me, Mr. Dodd,"
he resumed. "We've been going through the kind of
thing that tries a man. We've had the hardest kind of
work, we've been badly backed, and now we're badly
beaten. And we've fetched through without a word of
disagreement. I don't say this to praise myself: it's
my trade; it's what I'm paid for, and trained for, and
brought up to. But it was another thing for you; it
was all new to you; and it did me good to see you stand
right up to it and swing right into it--day in, day
out. And then see how you've taken this
disappointment, when everybody knows you must have been
tautened up to shying-point! I wish you'd let me tell
you, Mr. Dodd, that you've stood out mighty manly and
handsomely in all this business, and made every one
like you and admire you.
Pages:
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394