Duckett last but one."
Mr. Duckett, distrustful of these compliments, cast an agonized glance at
the door.
"Stobell was a bit rough just now," said Tredgold, with another warning
glance at Brisket, "but he didn't like being shipwrecked."
Brisket gazed at the door in his turn. He had an uncomfortable feeling
that he was being played with.
"It's nothing much to like," he said, at last, but--"
"Tell us how you escaped," said Tredgold; "or, perhaps," he continued,
hastily, as Brisket was about to speak--"perhaps you would like first to
hear how we did."
"Perhaps that would be better," said the perplexed Brisket.
He nudged the mate with his elbow, and Mr. Tredgold, still keeping him
under the spell of his eye, began with great rapidity to narrate the
circumstances attending the loss of the Fair Emily. After one
irrepressible grunt of surprise Captain Brisket listened without moving a
muscle, but the changes on Mr. Duckett's face were so extraordinary that
on several occasions the narrator faltered and lost the thread of his
discourse. At such times Mr. Chalk took up the story, and once, when
both seemed at a loss, a growling contribution came from Mr.
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