It is too late to telephone--we couldn't get any cigars out from town--what can we do?
Ain't it best to say nothing, and let on that we didn't think ?" "No," I said, "that would not be honest.

Fetch out the long nines"-- which he did.
I had just come across those "long nines" a few days or a week before.

I hadn't seen a long nine for years.

When I was a cub pilot on the Mississippi in the late '50's, I had had a great affection for them, because they were not only--to my mind--perfect, but you could get a basketful of them for a cent--or a dime, they didn't use cents out there in those days.

So when I saw them advertised in Hartford I sent for a thousand at once.