"He received me with a great shout of laughter. He seemed to think
my joining as an officer the greatest joke in the world. There was a
difference of ten years between us, and I suppose he remembered me
best in pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first went to sea. It
surprised me to find how boisterous he could be.
"'Now we shall see what you are made of,' he cried. And he held me off
by the shoulders, and punched my ribs, and hustled me into his berth.
'Sit down, Ned. I am glad of the chance of having you with me. I'll put
the finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing you're worth the
trouble. And, first of all, get it well into your head that we are
not going to let this brute kill anybody this voyage. We'll stop her
racket.'
"I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He talked grimly of the
ship, and how we must be careful and never allow this ugly beast to
catch us napping with any of her damned tricks.
"He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship for the use of the
Apse Family; then changing his tone, he began to talk at large, rattling
off the wildest, funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing.
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