"What has Jacobus done? Did he want you to marry again, Captain?"
I inquired in a deferential tone. But he was launched now and only
grinned fiercely.

"Procure--indeed! He's the sort of chap to procure you anything
you like for a price. I hadn't been moored here for an hour when
he got on board and at once offered to sell me a figurehead he
happens to have in his yard somewhere. He got Smith, my mate, to
talk to me about it. 'Mr. Smith,' says I, 'don't you know me
better than that? Am I the sort that would pick up with another
man's cast-off figurehead?' And after all these years too! The
way some of you young fellows talk--"

I affected great compunction, and as I stepped into the boat I said
soberly:

"Then I see nothing for it but to fit in a neat fiddlehead--
perhaps. You know, carved scrollwork, nicely gilt."

He became very dejected after his outburst.

"Yes. Scrollwork. Maybe. Jacobus hinted at that too. He's never
at a loss when there's any money to be extracted from a sailorman.
He would make me pay through the nose for that carving. A gilt
fiddlehead did you say--eh? I dare say it would do for you. You
young fellows don't seem to have any feeling for what's proper."

He made a convulsive gesture with his right arm.