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"You'll not want it for a short while, I daresay?" he asked. "Captain Barepoles " "Skipper, lad, I don't like to be cap'ned." "Well, Skipper Barepoles," said the middy with much solemnity, "I always pay my debts of honour on the spot, and I expect gentlemen who bet with me to do the same." Haco grinned. "But I an't a gentleman," said he, "an' I don't set up for one."
Billy had been standing beside his father when the steamer was first observed, and naturally clung to him. Gaff put his left arm tight round the boy, and with the others prepared for a spring, believing, as did all the rest, that the sloop would be sunk at once. Not so Haco Barepoles, who went to the wheel of his little vessel, and calmly awaited the result.
It happened that, just before Gaff left Cove in the sloop of Haco Barepoles, Lizzie Gordon had presented him with a Testament. Being a seriously-minded man, he had received the gift with gratitude, and carried it to sea with him.
I had coughed and made as much noise as possible in approaching the cook's domains, but they had been so much engrossed with each other that they did not hear me. Dan sprang hastily off the table, and suddenly assumed a deeply respectful air. "Dan," said I, "take this note to Mr Stuart as quickly as possible, and bring me an answer without delay. I am going to see Haco Barepoles at "
Half an hour afterwards, Dan Horsey, who had been sent to me with a note from my friend Stuart, went down into my kitchen, and finding Susan Barepoles there alone, put his arm round her waist. "Don't," said Susan, struggling unsuccessfully to get free. "What d'ye think Mrs Gaff has bin an' done?" "Don't know, my jewel, no more nor a pig as has niver seen the light o' day," said Dan.
Haco Barepoles, being at the time a boarder in the home, was entitled to his dinner in the general mess-room, but being bent on enjoying his meal in company with Susan, he chose to forego his rights on that occasion.
True to their resolve, Dan Horsey and Susan Barepoles were married at the end of the same week. And it is worthy of remark that mad Haco danced at their wedding, and by so doing, shook to its foundation the building in which it occurred.
"What's the principal?" demanded Mrs Gaff. "Why, the whole sum; the money itself, you know." "D'ye suppose that I'm a born fool, Mr Barepoles, that I should try to live on the money itself? I never heerd on anybody bilin' up money in a kettle an' suppin' goold soup, and I'm not a-goin' for to try."
Then for those whose poverty was extreme, or appetite unusually small, a little cup of tea could be supplied for one halfpenny and a good cup of tea too, not particularly strong, it is true, but with a fair average allowance of milk and sugar. "Waiter," cried Haco Barepoles in a voice that commanded instant attention. "Yessir." "Soup for two, steaks an' 'taties for ditto to foller." "Yessir."
Stephen Gaff had also become a member, just before starting on his last voyage, having been persuaded thereto by Haco Barepoles, who is a stanch adherent and advocate of our cause. Many a sailor has Haco brought to me to enrol as a member, and many a widow and fatherless child has had occasion to thank God that he did so.
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