"I confess I
fail entirely to understand the nature of the
business," the judge had remarked, while Trent was
being examined in chief; a little after, on fuller
information--"They call it a bank," he had opined, "but
it seems to me to be an unlicensed pawnshop"; and he
wound up with this appalling allocution: "Mr. Trent, I
must put you on your guard; you must be very careful,
or we shall see you here again." In the inside of a
week the captain disposed of the bank, the cottage, and
the gig and horse; and to sea again in the FLYING
SCUD, where he did well, and gave high satisfaction to
his owners. But the glory clung to him; he was a plain
sailor-man, he said, but he could never long allow you
to forget that he had been a banker.
His mate, Elias Goddedaal, was a huge Viking of a man,
six feet three, and of proportionate mass, strong,
sober, industrious, musical, and sentimental. He ran
continually over into Swedish melodies, chiefly in the
minor. He had paid nine dollars to hear Patti; to hear
Nilsson, he had deserted a ship and two months' wages;
and he was ready at any time to walk ten miles for a
good concert, or seven to a reasonable play.
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