Part 24 (1/2)

”Wait a bit though; yes, I had my poor old dog washed overboard.”

”Dog!” said the deep-sea man; ”we can't put dogs in a disburs.e.m.e.nt sheet. 'Tain't business.”

”My old master would have given me another one, though,” grumbled Fazackerly. ”I wouldn't ha' parted with that dog for anything. He knew as much as you or me, that dog did. I never knew him to bite an officer, but I don't think there was ever a man came on the s.h.i.+p but what he'd have a bit out of, sooner or later.”

”Them sort of dogs do get washed overboard,” said Tweedie impatiently.

”Boys he couldn't abear,” pursued the other, in tones of tender reminiscence; ”the mere sight of a boarding-school of 'em out for a walk would give him hydrophoby almost.”

”Just so,” said Tweedie. ”Ah! there's cork fenders; ye may pick them up floating down the river, or they may come aboard in the night from a craft alongside; they're changeable sort o' things, but in the disburs.e.m.e.nt sheet they must go, and best quality too, four-and-sixpence each. Any thing else?”

”There's the dog,” said Fazackerly persistently.

”Copper nails, tenpence,” said Tweedie the dictator.

”Haven't bought any for months,” said the other, but slowly entering it.

”Well, it ain't exactly right,” said Tweedie, shrugging his shoulders, ”but you're so set on him going in.”

”Him? Who?” asked Captain Fazackerly, staring.

”The dog,” said Tweedie; ”if he goes in as copper nails, he won't be noticed.”

”If he goes in as tenpence, I'm a Dutchman,” said the bereaved owner, scoring out the copper nails. ”You never knew that dog properly, Tweedie.”

”Well, never mind about the dog,” said Tweedie; ”let's cast the sheet.

What do you think it comes to?”

”'Bout thirty pun',” hazarded the other.

”Thirty fiddlesticks,” retorted Tweedie; ”there you are in black and white--sixty-three pounds eighteen s.h.i.+llings and tenpence ha'penny.”

”And is that what Mas'r Edward wants?” inquired Captain Fazackerly gasping.

”Yes; that's a properly drawn up disburs.e.m.e.nt sheet,” said Tweedie in satisfied tones. ”You see how it simplifies matters. The governor can see at a glance how things stand, while, if you trusted to your memory, you might forget something, or else claim something you didn't have.”

”I ought to have had them things afore,” said Captain Fazackerly, shaking his head solemnly. ”I'd ha' been riding in my carriage by now.”

”Never ye dream of having another vy'ge without one,” said Tweedie. ”I doubt whether it's lawful to render an account without one.”

He folded the paper, and handed it to his friend, who, after inspecting it with considerable pride, tucked it carefully away in his breast pocket.

”Take it up in the morning,” said Tweedie. ”We'll have a bit o' tea down here, and then we'll go round a bit afterwards.”

Captain Fazackerly having no objection, they had tea first, and then, accompanied by the first mate, went out to christen the disburs.e.m.e.nt sheet. The ceremony, which was of great length, was solemnly impressive towards the finish. Captain Tweedie, who possessed a very sensitive, highly-strung nature, finding it necessary to put a licensed victualler out of his own house before it could be completed to his satisfaction.

The one thing which Captain Fazackerly remembered clearly the next morning when he awoke was the disburs.e.m.e.nt sheet. He propped It against the coffee-pot during breakfast, and read selections to his admiring mate, and after a refres.h.i.+ng toilet, proceeded to the office. Simmons was already there, and before the skipper could get to the purpose of his visit, the head of the firm arrived.

”I've just brought the disburs.e.m.e.nt sheet you asked for, sir,” said the skipper, drawing it from his pocket.