Page:In the Roar of the Sea.djvu/384

376 has come in for some thousands of pounds—how many do you think? Have you heard?"

"I think I've heard——"

"Mate! Mate!"

"I think I've heard, Mate."

"Now, how many do you remember to have heard named? Was it five thousand? That is what I heard named—eh, Captain?"

"Oh, more than that," said Jamie, in his small mind catching at a chance of talking big, "a great lot more than that."

"What, ten thousand?"

"I dare say; yes, I think so."

"Forfeit! forfeit! pull again, Centurion."

"Yes, Mate, I'm sure."

"Ten thousand—why, at five per cent, that's a nice little sum for you and Ju to look forward to when the old hull springs a leak and goes to the bottom."

"Yes," answered Jamie, vaguely. He could not look beyond the day, moreover he did not understand the figurative speech of his comrade.

"Forfeit again, General! But I'll forgive you this time, or you'll get so drunk you'll not be able to answer me a question. Bless my legs and arms! on that pretty little sum one could afford one's self a new tie every Sunday. You will prove a beau and buck indeed some day, Captain of Thousands! And then you won't live in this little hole. By the way, I hear old Dunes Trevisa, I beg pardon, Field-Marshal Sir James, I mean your much respected aunt, Miss Trevisa, has got a charming box down by S. Austell. You'll ask me down for the shooting, won't you, Commander-in-Chief?"

"Yes, I will," answered Jamie.

"And you'll give me the best bedroom, and will have choice dinners, and the best old tawny port, eh?"

"Yes, to be sure," said the boy, flattered.

"Mate! mate! forfeit! and I suppose you'll keep a hunter?"

"I shall have two—three," said Jamie.

"And if I were you, I'd keep a pack of fox-hounds."

"I will."

"That's for the winter, and other hounds for the summer."

"I am sure I will, and wear a red coat."