United States or Saint Martin ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
They followed him along the wet, slippery deck slowly, letting him pass ahead out of earshot. "It was a belayin'-pin, ye'es?" queried the Greek softly of Conroy. "He might have hit his head against a pin," replied Conroy. "Eh?" The Greek stopped. "Might 'ave might 'ave 'it 'is 'ead? Ah, dat is fine! 'E might 'ave 'it 'is 'ead, Slade! You 'ear dat?"
"They can pull ropes when you tell 'em to," he said. "Leastways, when it comes to brains, I reckon they'll stack up better'n them Portygees you used to have." "I never pretended that them Portygees had any brains at all," said the Cap'n, grimly. "They come aboard without brains, and I took a belayin'-pin and batted brains into 'em. I can't do that to these critters here.
"No, suh, I don' s'pose you could ha'dly call it a fight. One er dem dagoes off'n a Souf American boat gimme some er his jaw, an' I give 'im a back answer, an' here I is wid a broken arm. He got holt er a belayin'-pin befo' I could hit 'im." "What became of the other man?" demanded Miller suspiciously.
"You hold your own course, 'cause the minute you get under my bows I'll give you a broadside that will put your colors down. You've kicked me the last time you're ever goin' to." "I was thinkin' it was a belayin'-pin that time aboard the Benn," muttered the Cap'n. "I guess I must have forgot and kicked him." Then once again he raised his voice in appeal.
P'r'aps I ain't got it, after bein' on shore among clodhoppers for two years. But, by Judas Iscarrot, I'm goin' to start in and find out! Portygees! There's Portygees! Here's me that has handled 'em batted brains into 'em as they've come over the side, one by one, and started 'em goin' like I'd wind up a watch! And a belayin'-pin is the key!"
"Draw it fine, Willum; don't be flowery," said the sailor, renewing his quid. "Moreover, if you'll take the advice of an old salt you'll keep a tighter grip o' that belayin'-pin you've got hold of, unless you wants to be washed overboard. Now then, fire away! I'm all attention, as the cat said at the mouth o' the mouse-hole."
"'Ith we married, thkipper? says Liz, when she got the ring on. "'Well, says the skipper, 'I 'low that knot 'll hold 'til fall. For, says he, 'I got a rope's end an' a belayin'-pin t' make it hold, says he, 'til we gets long-side of a parson that knows more about matrimonial knots 'n me. We'll pick up your goods. Liz, says he, 'on the s'uthard v'y'ge.
I was standin' close to the fore hatch at the time, a-talkin' to Jim Brag, an' the father o' the babby, poor feller, he was standin' by the foretops'l halyards holdin' on to a belayin'-pin, an' lookin' as white as a sheet for I got a glance at 'im two or three times doorin' the flashes o' lightnin'. Well, stooard, there was lightnin' playin' round the mizzen truck, an' the main truck, an' the fore truck, an' at the end o' the flyin' jib-boom, an' the spanker boom; then there came a flash that seemed to set afire the entire univarse; then a burst o' thunder like fifty great guns gone off all at once in a hurry.
Word Of The Day