itin' yer, Duke?

DUKE: Ain 't I tellin' yer?

CAPTAIN: Ain 't we listenin'?

PATCH: Jest hangin' on yer tongue?

DUKE: Captain, you and me and Patch has seen a heap o' sights. We
knows the ocean. We knows her when she 's blue and when she 's kickin'
'igher than a gallow's tree.

CAPTAIN: We has been ter Virginy.

PATCH: We has traded slaves at the Barbadoes.

DUKE: And does n't we set around o' nights and swap the sights we
seen--mermaids and sea-serpents and such? Did yer jest once ever hear
Red Joe tell what he 's seen? Yer can sink me stern up with all lights
burnin', if I think the feller 's ever been beyond the Isle o' Dogs.

CAPTAIN: What 's bitin' yer, Duke?

DUKE: It 's jest this. Red Joe ain 't no pirate. He 's a landlubber.

(_He says this as you or I might call a man a snake._)

CAPTAIN: (_And now a great light comes to him. He is proud of his
swift perception. He leans across the table to share his secret with
Patch._) I seem ter get what Duke means. He 's hintin', Patch, that
Red Joe ain 't a pirate.

PATCH: If he ain 't a pirate, what is he? I asks yer that.

DUKE: (_as he brings down his fist for emphasis_). He 's a bloomin'
spy.

CAPTAIN: A spy! (_He gives a long-drawn whistle as the truth breaks on
him._)

PATCH: If I thought he was a spy, I 'd ketch him right here with me
dirk. I hates spies worse 'n empty bottles.

CAPTAIN: I 'd scrape him with me hook.

[Illustration: "I 'd scrape him with me hook"]

DUKE: I 've been thinkin', Captain, while you and Patch has been
amusin' yerselves. Askin' yer pardon, Captain, but cards rots the
mind. Did yer ever know a pirate that ain 't drunk at the Port Light
on Wappin' wharf?

CAPTAIN: Not as yet I never did. I never knowed a pirate as did n't
have a double-barreled nose fer grog.

DUKE: Well, when Red Joe comes in, we 'll jest ask him. And we 'll ask
him if he ever played black-ace at the Rusty Anchor.

CAPTAIN: It ain 't no night ter have spies about. With the Royal 'Arry
comin' on so pretty.

PATCH: And jest gettin' ready ter smash hisself.

DUKE: That innercent ship will be due in less 'n half an hour.

CAPTAIN: If Red Joe is a spy, by the fiery beard o' Satan, I 'm
tellin' yer that dead men tell no tales.

(_He lifts the terrible hook and claws the air._)

DUKE: Askin' yer pardon, Captain, bein' as it was me as smelled him
out, won 't yer let me slit his wizen? I does it pretty, without
mussin' up the cabin. I ain 't aski