"I've been thinking since
I lay here--been sleeping badly, and took the anchor watch meself--what
I want to know is whether I'm to be treated gentlemanly!"
"In what way?" inquired Cartoner, gently. And the sound of his voice
seemed to pacify the captain.
"Of course," he admitted, "I'm not a gentleman, I know that; but in
seafaring things I'll be treated as such. Truth is, I'm afraid it's
something to do with this news from St. Petersburg. And I don't take any
bombmen on board my ship, and that's flat."
"I think I can assure you on that point," said Cartoner. "Nobody who had
to do with the assassination of the Czar is likely to be in Dantzic. But
I do not know whom you are to take on board here."
"May be as you can guess," suggested the captain.
"Yes, I think I can guess," admitted Cartoner, with his slow smile.
"But you won't tell me?"
"No. When do you expect them?"
"I'll answer that and ask you another," said Captain Cable, getting
a yellow decanter from a locker beneath the table. "That's
port--ship-chandler's port. I won't say it's got a bokay, mind."
For Captain Cable's hospitality was not showy or self-sufficient.
"I'll answer that and ask you another.
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