sts ter come.

PATCH: Me stomich 's turned keel up.

CAPTAIN: Patch, yer ain 't got spunk ter be a pirate. Yer as soft as
Petey's pussycat.

PATCH: I ain 't, ain 't I? Was n't it me as nudged the Captain o' the
Northern Star off his poop--when he were n't lookin'? Him with a
pistol in his boot! Did n't I hit Bill, the bos'n, with a
marline-spike--jest afore he woke up? Sweet dreams, I says, and I
tapped him gentle. I got a lot o' spunk. Bill did n't wake up, he did
n't. Was n't it me, Captain, that started that mutiny? Was n't it me?
I 'm askin' yer.

CAPTAIN: Still braggin' o' that ol' time. It was more 'n four years
ago. What yer done since? Jest loadin' yer stomich--jest gruntin' and
wallerin' in the trough--jest braggin'.

PATCH: I ain 't 'fraid o' nothin'--'cept a gibbet. (_For a moment the
ugly word sticks in his gullet._) But the ol' lady kinder got me. Yer
looked down yer nose yerself, Captain--askin' yer pardon.

CAPTAIN: Struck me, Patch, she was jest a wee bit flustered by Red
Joe. Did yer notice how she sat and looked at the glass? And would n't
say nothin'? Jest nothin' at all.

PATCH: And then the ol' dear's fingers slipped and the glass was
broke.

CAPTAIN: It looks almost as if she done it a purpose.

(_The Duke has been thinking all of this time with necessary
contortions of the face. It is amazing how these help on a knotty
problem._)

DUKE: Course she done it a purpose. It was ter stop me lookin' 'cross
her shoulder in the glass.

CAPTAIN: What does yer think she saw?

PATCH: Was it blood drippin'?

DUKE: I 'll tell yer. I 'll tell yer.

(_But he continues whittling._)

CAPTAIN: Well, ain 't we listenin', Duke?

PATCH: Jest strainin' our ears.

DUKE: I 'll tell yer. I squinted in the glass, meself, arter it was
broke.

CAPTAIN and PATCH: What did yer see?

(_There is intense silence. The Duke comes forward to the table. He
taps his fingers sagely. He looks mysteriously at his fellow pirates.
They put their heads together. The Duke sinks his voice. In such
posture and accent was the gunpowder plot hatched out._)

DUKE: Nothin'! Jest nothin'!

(_The strain is over. They relax._)

CAPTAIN: The Duke, he jest seen nothin'.

PATCH: Jest nothin' at all.

DUKE: That 's what gets me. If the _ol' lady_ 'd seen nothin', she
would n't took ter fidgettin'. And therefore she seen _somethin'_.
Does yer foller? You, Captain? I 'spects nothin' from Patch.

[Illustration: "I 'spects