Jim Ledward says:
'Skipper, ye make nothin' by that. It's too late. Bad luck's boarded
us.'
"And sure 'nough it had," sighed Cap'n Amazon, as though reflecting.
"You never did see such a time as we had in gettin' round the Cape.
And we got it good in the roarin' forties, too--hail, sleet, snow,
rain, and lightnin' all mixed, and the sea a reg'lar hell's broth all
the time."
"I beg of you, sir," breathed the lady, shuddering again. Cap'n
Amazon, enthralled by his own narrative, steamed ahead without noticing
her shocked expression.
"One hurricane on top of another--that's what we got. We lost four men
overboard, includin' the third officer, one time and another. I was
knocked down myself and got a broken arm--had it in a sling nine weeks.
We got fever in a port that hadn't had such an epidemic in six months,
and seven of the crew had to be took ashore.
"Bad luck dogged us and the ship. Only, it never touched the skipper
or Tony Spadello--the only two that had handled the albatross. That
is, not as far as I know.
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