Page:Paine--J Archibauld McKaney collector of whiskers.djvu/158

  yards, while from within issued a series of shrill commands that fairly crackled with profanity. I was able to hear the turbulent passenger cry with formidable fury:

"Hard a-starboard, you swab! Now easy with your helium. Don't you know enough to let her come up into the wind when you're making a landing?"

The harassed cab made another dizzy circuit, and finally stopped at the curb. The door was flung open and there emerged a huge beard of Titian red followed by its sturdy owner, Hank Wilkins, my faithful assistant and the companion of many of my wanderings. He beckoned to the driver, who handed him down a bit of plank and a coil of rope. Then Mr. Wilkins carefully moored the horse, stern and bow, to the footscraper on the doorstep, after which he laid one end of the plank inside the cab and the other on the curb, thus making a little bridge. Touching his hat with a sailorly salute he addressed the interior of the cab:

"All's made fast shipshape and proper, 140]