The Project Gutenberg EBook of Manners Makyth Man, by W.W. Jacobs

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Manners Makyth Man
Ship's Company, Part 12.

Author: W.W. Jacobs

Release Date: January 1, 2004 [EBook #10572]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MANNERS MAKYTH MAN ***

Produced by David Widger

SHIP'S COMPANY

By W.W. Jacobs

"MANNERS MAKYTH MAN"

The night-watchman appeared to be out of sorts. His movements were even
slower than usual, and, when he sat, the soap-box seemed to be unable to
give satisfaction. His face bore an expression of deep melancholy, but a
smouldering gleam in his eye betokened feelings deeply moved.

"Play-acting I don't hold with," he burst out, with sudden ferocity.
"Never did. I don't say I ain't been to a theayter once or twice in my
life, but I always come away with the idea that anybody could act if they
liked to try. It's a kid's game, a silly kid's game, dressing up and
pretending to be somebody else."

He cut off a piece of tobacco and, stowing it in his left cheek, sat
chewing, with his lack-lustre eyes fixed on the wharves across the river.
The offensive antics of a lighterman in mid-stream, who nearly fell
overboard in his efforts to attract his attention, he ignored.

"I might ha' known it, too," he said, after a long silence. "If I'd only
stopped to think, instead o' being in such a hurry to do good to others,
I should ha' been all right, and the pack o' monkey-faced swabs on the
<i>Lizzie and Annie</i> wot calls themselves sailor-men would 'ave had to 'ave
got something else to laugh about. They've told it in every pub for 'arf
a mile round, and last night, when I went into the Town of Margate to get
a drink, three chaps climbed over the partition to 'ave a look at me.

"It all began with young Ted Sawyer, the mate o' the <i>Lizzie and Annie</i>.
He calls himself a mate, but if it wasn't for 'aving the skipper for a
brother-in-law 'e'd be called something else, very quick. Two or three
times we've 'ad words over one thing and another, and the last time I
called 'im something that I can see now was a mistake. It was one o'
these 'ere clever things that