Us must come off gradual, after holding on so long there, and better to have Squire Darling round the corner first, sir.

Not that he knoweth much about it, but 'a might make believe to do so.

And when 'a hath seen us pull wrong ways, a hundred and twenty guineas' worth, a' might grudge us the reward for pulling right ways.
I've a-knowed 'un get into that state of mind, although it was his own tenants." The lieutenant was at length compelled to laugh, though for many reasons loth to do so.

But the quiet contempt for the Admiral's skill, and the brief hint about his character, touched his sense of the ludicrous more softly than the explanation of his own mishaps.

Then the Captain of Springhaven smiled almost imperceptibly; for he was a serious man, and his smiles were accustomed to be interior.
"I did hear tell," he said, stroking his beard, for fear of having discomposed it, "that the Squire were under compulsion to go a bit westward again to-morrow.