FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160  
161   162   163   164   >>  
stood looking at him, with his hand on his shoulder; he then shook hands for the third time, and patted him encouragingly on the back. "Is anything the matter?" demanded the skipper of the Falcon as he rose to his feet, alarmed by these manifestations of feeling. "Is Mary--is she ill?" "Worse than that," said the other--"worse'n that, my poor boy; she's married a lobster!" The effect of this communication upon Evans was tremendous; but it may be doubted whether he was more surprised than Miss Cooper, who, utterly unversed in military terms, strove in vain to realize the possibility of such a mesalliance, as she gazed wildly at the speaker and squeaked with astonishment. "When was it?" asked Evans at last, in a dull voice. "Thursday fortnight, at ha' past eleven," said the old man. "He's a sergeant in the line. I would have written to you, but I thought it was best to come and break it to you gently. Cheer up, my boy; there's more than one Mary Jones in the world." With this undeniable fact, Captain Jones waved a farewell to the party and went off, leaving them to digest his news. For some time they sat still, the mate and Miss Cooper exchanging whispers, until at length, the stillness becoming oppressive, they withdrew to their respective berths, leaving the skipper sitting at the table, gazing hard at a knot in the opposite locker. For long after their departure he sat thus, amid a deep silence, broken only by an occasional giggle from the stateroom, or an idiotic sniggering from the direction of the mate's bunk, until, recalled to mundane affairs by the lamp burning itself out, he went, in befitting gloom, to bed. THE RIVAL BEAUTIES "If you hadn't asked me," said the night watchman, "I should never have told you; but, seeing as you've put the question point blank, I will tell you my experience of it. You're the first person I've ever opened my lips to upon the subject, for it was so eggstraordinary that all our chaps swore as they'd keep it to theirselves for fear of being disbelieved and jeered at. "It happened in '84, on board the steamer George Washington, bound from Liverpool to New York. The first eight days passed without anything unusual happening, but on the ninth I was standing aft with the first mate, hauling in the log, when we hears a yell from aloft, an' a chap what we called Stuttering Sam come down as if he was possessed, and rushed up to the mate with his eyes nearly sta
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160  
161   162   163   164   >>  



Top keywords:

leaving

 

Cooper

 

skipper

 

question

 

watchman

 

recalled

 

mundane

 

affairs

 
direction
 

sniggering


stateroom
 

occasional

 

idiotic

 
befitting
 

giggle

 
broken
 
burning
 

silence

 

BEAUTIES

 

standing


hauling

 

happening

 
unusual
 

passed

 
possessed
 

rushed

 

called

 

Stuttering

 
Liverpool
 

eggstraordinary


subject

 

person

 

opened

 

steamer

 

George

 

Washington

 

happened

 

theirselves

 
departure
 
disbelieved

jeered

 

experience

 

digest

 

doubted

 

surprised

 

utterly

 

lobster

 

married

 

effect

 

communication