In the latter case a smile went round the
ship, for Buckle almost invariably laid his student
out, and when Tom awoke again he was almost always in
the humour for brown sherry. The connection was so
well established that "a glass of Buckle" or "a bottle
of civilisation" became current pleasantries on board
the CURRENCY LASS.
Hemstead's province was that of the repairs, and he had
his hands full. Nothing on board but was decayed in a
proportion: the lamps leaked, so did the decks; door-
knobs came off in the hand, mouldings parted company
with the panels, the pump declined to suck, and the
defective bathroom came near to swamp the ship. Wicks
insisted that all the nails were long ago consumed, and
that she was only glued together by the rust. "You
shouldn't make me laugh so much, Tommy," he would say.
"I'm afraid I'll shake the sternpost out of her." And,
as Hemstead went to and fro with his tool-basket on an
endless round of tinkering, Wicks lost no opportunity
of chaffing him upon his duties. "If you'd turn to at
sailoring or washing paint or something useful, now,"
he would say, "I could see the fun of it.
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