There's allus a lot of old
barnacles like Cap'n Joab and Washy Gallup clingin' to such reefs as
this.
"So I heard unendin' experiences of men who had gone to sea. And at
night I read everything I could get touchin' on, an' appertainin' to,
sea-farin'. In my mind I've sailed the seven seas, charted unknown
waters, went through all the perils I tell 'bout. Yes, sir, I don't
dispute I'm a hi-mighty liar," he repeated, sighing and shaking his
head.
"But when I come here to the Shell Road, where there warn't nobody
knowed me, it struck me forcible," pursued Cap'n Abe, "that my fambly
bein' so little known I could achieve a sort of vicarious repertation
as a seagoin' man.
"Ye see what I mean? I cal'lated if I'd had a brother--a brother who
warn't marked with a fear of the ocean--_he_ would ha' been a sailor.
Course he would! All us Silts was seafarin' men!
"An' I thought so much 'bout this brother that I _might_ ha' had, and
what he would ha' done sailin' up an' down the world, learnin' to be a
master mariner, an' finally pacin' his own quarter-deck, that he grew
like he was real to me, Niece Louise--he re'lly did.
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