"I can't say that he did exactly do that, but he would swear all
round me, even if he did n't actually touch me, when things went
wrong--but it would have done your heart good to hear him laugh! he
had a most excellent heart, just like your own, Rosy dear; but, for
that matter, all the Budds have excellent hearts, and one of the
commonest ways your uncle had of showing it was to laugh,
particularly when we were together and talking. Oh, he used to
delight in hearing me converse, especially about vessels, and never
failed to get me at it when he had company. I see his good-natured,
excellent-hearted countenance at this moment, with the tears running
down his fat, manly cheeks, as he shook his very sides with
laughter. I may live a hundred years, Rosy, before I meet again with
your uncle's equal."

This was a subject that invariably silenced Rose. She remembered her
uncle, herself, and remembered his affectionate manner of laughing
at her aunt, and she always wished the latter to get through her
eulogiums on her married happiness, as soon as possible, whenever
the subject was introduced.

All this time the Molly Swash kept in motion. Spike never took a
pilot when he could avoid it, and his mind was too much occupied
with his duty, in that critical navigation, to share at all in the
conversation of his passengers, though he did endeavour to make
himself agreeable to Rose, by an occasional remark, when a
favourable opportunity offered.

As soon as he had worked his brig over into the south or weather
passage of Blackwell's, however, there remained little for him to
do, until she had drifted through it, a distance of a mile or more;