sitting on red-'ot cinders. He purtended he 'ad come in for the sake of
old times and to ask arter my 'ealth, and all the time he was doing 'is
best to upset me to amuse them two pore objecks 'e 'ad brought with 'im.

Capt'in Mellun is his name, and 'e was always a foolish, soft-'eaded sort
o' man, and how he 'as kept 'is job I can't think. He used to trade
between this wharf and Bristol on a little schooner called the _Firefly_,
and seeing wot a silly, foolish kind o' man he was, I took a little bit
o' notice of 'im. Many and many a time when 'e was going to do something
he'd ha' been sorry for arterwards I 'ave taken 'im round to the Bear's
Head and stood 'im pint arter pint until he began to see reason and own
up that I was in the right.

His crew was a'most as bad as wot he was, and all in one month one o' the
'ands gave a man ten shillings for a di'mond ring he saw 'im pick up, wot
turned out to be worth fourpence, and another one gave five bob for a
meerschaum pipe made o' chalk. When I pointed out to 'em wot fools they
was they didn't like it, and a week arterwards, when the skipper gave a
man in a pub 'is watch and chain and two pounds to hold, to show 'is
confidence in 'im, and I told 'im exactly wot I thought of him, 'e didn't
like it.

"You're too sharp, Bill," he says, sneering like. "My opinion is that
the pore man was run over. He told me 'e should only be away five
minutes. And he 'ad got an honest face: nice open blue eyes, and a smile
that done you good to look at."

"You've been swindled," I ses, "and you know it. If I'd been done like
that I should never hold up my 'ead agin. Why, a child o' five would
know better. You and your crew all seem to be tarred with the same