"By rights he ought to 'ave left the office at six--just my time for
coming on. As it was, he used to stay late, purtending to work 'ard so
as to get a rise. Arter all the clerks 'ad gorn 'ome he used to sit
perched up on a stool yards too 'igh for him, with one eye on the ledger
and the other looking through the winder at me. I remember once going
off for 'arf a pint, and when I come back I found 'im with a policeman,
two carmen, and all the hands off of the Maid Marian, standing on the
edge of the jetty, waiting for me to come up. He said that, not finding
me on the wharf, 'e made sure that I must 'ave tumbled overboard, as he
felt certain that I wouldn't neglect my dooty while there was breath in
my body; but 'e was sorry to find 'e was mistook. He stood there talking
like a little clergyman, until one of the carmen knocked his 'at over 'is
eyes, and then he forgot 'imself for a bit.

"Arter that I used to wait until he 'ad gorn afore I 'ad my arf-pint. I
didn't want my good name taken away, and I had to be careful, and many's
the good arf-pint I 'ad to refuse because that little imitation monkey
was sitting in the office drawing faces on 'is blotting-paper. But
sometimes it don't matter 'ow careful you are, you make a mistake.

"There was a little steamer, called the Eastern Monarch, used to come up
here in them days, once a week. Fat little tub she was, with a crew o'
fattish old men, and a skipper that I didn't like. He'd been in the
coasting trade all 'is life, while I've knocked about all over the world,
but to hear 'im talk you'd think he knew more about things than I did.

"Eddication, Bill,' he ses one evening, 'that's the thing! You can't
argufy without it; you only talk foolish, like you are doing now.'

"'There's eddication and there's common sense,' I ses. 'Some people 'as