"Lord! No more she could. An' t' say Moses Shoos! An' t' say M'issus
Moses Shoos! Lord! It give me a pain in the tongue, t' think of it.

"'Jutht my luck,' says she; 'but I'll do my betht.'

"So we went back an' told the cook that he didn't have t' worry no more
about gettin' a wife; an' he said he was more glad than sorry, an', says
he, she'd better get her bonnet, t' go aboard an' get married right
away. An' she 'lowed she didn't want no bonnet, but _would_ like to
change her pinny. So we said we'd as lief wait a spell, though a clean
pinny wasn't _needed_. An' when she got back, the cook said he 'lowed
the skipper could marry un well enough 'til we over-hauled a real
parson; an' she thought so, too, for, says she, 'twouldn't be longer
than fall, an' any sort of a weddin', says she, would do 'til then. An'
aboard we went, the cook an' me pullin' the punt, an' she steerin'; an'
the cook he crowed an' cackled all the way, like a half-witted rooster;
but the maid didn't even cluck, for she was too wonderful solemn t' do
anything but look at the moon.

"'Skipper,' said the cook, when we got in the fo'c's'le, 'here she is.
_I_ isn't afeared,' says he, 'and _she_ isn't afeared; an' now I 'low
we'll have you marry us.'

"Up jumps the skipper; but he was too much s'prised t' say a word.

"'An' I'm thinkin',' says the cook, with a nasty little wink, 'that they
isn't a man in this here fo'c's'le,' says he, 'will _say_ I'm afeared.'

"'Cook,' says the skipper, takin' the cook's hand, 'shake! I never