Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/107

Rh best of my advice and assistance. But I am a retiring man, James, and don't seek to stand in other men's shoes; on the contrary, if they can get any credit from my humble actions, let 'em, James, let 'em. I waive my claims.

The boatswain looked queerly at the President for two whole minutes, his expression contrasting admirably with the Pecksniffian radiance of the other. Then he burst out—

"Why, ye thundering little dressed-up hurdy-gurdy monkey, that's got neither pluck enough to fight a well-growed cock-robin, nor wit enough to hold your tongue when ye'd run away, d'ye think there's a man woman or child on board the ship, let alone James Barker, so simple as to believe that ye'd have crept out of your cabin during the fight for a million of dollars, unless ye'd been kicked out? Didn't I see ye lying on the cabin floor as white as a tallow candle, with your red tongue a-lollopin' out of your mouth, and a-stoppin' of your ears to try and keep out the sound of the guns? And wasn't the very women a-sassin of you, and saying 'Oh, Mr. President, do please get up and protect us?' and you to go and claim the