Leaning on his elbow in the mizzen rigging and so still that the helmsman over there at the other end of the poop might have (and he probably did) suspect him of being criminally asleep on duty, he tried to "get hold of that thing" by some side which would fit in with his simple notions of psychology.

"What the deuce are they worrying about ?" he asked himself in a dazed and contemptuous impatience.

But all the same "jailer" was a funny name to give a man; unkind, unfriendly, nasty.

He was sorry that Mr.Smith was guilty in that matter because, the truth must be told, he had been to a certain extent sensible of having been noticed in a quiet manner by the father of Mrs.Anthony.

Youth appreciates that sort of recognition which is the subtlest form of flattery age can offer.