ain't grumpy,' said Huish; 'I'm as plyful as a canary-bird, I am.'

'Yes,' said Davis, 'you're playful; I own that; and you were playful

last night, I believe, and a damned fine performance you made of it.'

''Allo!' said Huish. ''Ow's this? Wot performance?'

'Well, I'll tell you,' said the captain, getting slowly off the rail.

And he did: at full length, with every wounding epithet and absurd

detail repeated and emphasised; he had his own vanity and Huish's upon

the grill, and roasted them; and as he spoke, he inflicted and endured

agonies of humiliation. It was a plain man's masterpiece of the

sardonic.

'What do you think of it?' said he, when he had done, and looked down at

Huish, flushed and serious, and yet jeering.

'I'll tell you wot it is,' was the reply, 'you and me cut a pretty dicky

figure.'

'That's so,' said Davis, 'a pretty measly figure, by God! And, by God, I

want to see that man at my knees.'

'Ah!' said Huish. ''Ow to get him there?'

'That's it!' cried Davis. 'How to get hold of him! They're four to two;

172

The Ebb-Tide