"The hell yew war? 'Member speakin' the _I.P. Rakes_ off the Dyeego Ramerrez? Yew had ye jibboom gone an' nought above the lower-mast forrard. Your ole man sent a life-boat aboard us fur spuds--said y'd got scurvy bad. By Davy, I allers allows thet were the dirtiest sea I ever see'd a boat live in." "It was bad," agreed Jack. "We got stove in trying to get aboard again, and lost three men." "Thet's right! I see'd yew wi' these very eyes, smashed to staves yew were; an' yew were in thet boat, eh?" "Yes," said the Britisher quietly. "I was second mate of the _Cairngorm_, and had charge of her." "Phew!" exclaimed Hank, drawing a long breath; "an' whar did yew larn thet trick o' handlin' a boat? Been whalin', I s'pose?" "No; all the boat-work I know I picked up in the Islands." "Ever seen Siwash squaws run a birch-bark through rapids?" asked old Bedrock Ben. "That's what I calls boat-handlin'." "Squaws 'andle a boat! To 'ell wiv ye!" burst out the cockney disdainfully. "What d'you know 'bout h'it? W'y, you ain't never seen the Boat Ryce." "What boat race?" grunted old Ben. "Lord lummy, byes, listen to 'im! Sech h'ignorance is bloomin' well a disgryce." "What's this here race you-alls alludes to?" inquired Broncho in his polite Texan drawl. "Oh, 'ell!" gasped the cockney, and sank back in a state of collapse. "I see'd the Boat Race onct," suddenly put in Jim's small voice, "an' I ain't never forget it." "I ain't no use fur racin'," growled Red Bill. "I does a v'yage once in one o' them tea-clippers, an' that were enuff racin' to last me my time. What wi' carryin' on when it's blowin' great guns an' muckin' around in the tropics with royal stuns'ls, save-alls, water-s'ls, ringtails, an' sech-like superfloous pocket-handkerchers, it ain't no game fur a white man." "What was your ship, mate?" inquired the rover, looking up with interest. "_Titania._" "I came home from Australia once in the _Cutty Sark_," said Jack slowly. "Lose any men?" asked Red Bill sharply. "Well, off the Horn we did. Helmsman lost his head--let her run off, whilst we were at the main braces. We shipped a big sea and lost nine men overboard--two of them washed off the foreyard." "I believe you, son," snorted the fiery-headed Bill. "That's the way wi' them packets. Men's lives is nuffin' so long as they makes a good passage." "Men's lives!" growled Jack disdainfully. "Red Bill, you talk like a softy! What do you come to sea for but to take the rough with the smooth? When a man begins thinking of his life at sea, it's about time he stopped ashore and turned counterjumper, ink-squirter, or hayseed----" "Go easy, mate, go easy!" put in Hank mildly. "Well, I've got no patience when a man begins talking about his precious life."