Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/189

Rh “What for?” exclaimed the Captain. “Why, to enlist of course. And they wouldn’t take me; no, the fools wouldn’t take me! Here I know every yard and shroud and timber in every kind of ship that’s afloat. I’ve lived long enough really to learn something—and they turned me away. They’re taking boys of eighteen, sixteen even, if their parents  say yes, fellows who have learned about as  much of ships as they could find out from sailing chips in a duck-pond. I don’t know what our Navy means. Here’s a war coming, and a valuable man like me applies—and they  won’t have him.”

His outburst was so full of wrath that for a moment Billy was awed into silence. But even the silence was thunderous with rage, so  he finally broke it.

“What are you doing now?” he inquired.

Captain Saulsby put down the paper and his spectacles, rose stiffly and once more grasped his spade.

“I’m planting potatoes,” he said bitterly.