Many a time that little
schooner o' mine has kept up with a steamer."
"Wher'd you ha' been if the tow rope had parted, though?" said the
master of the Thistle, with a wink at the landlord.
At this remark Captain Berrow took fire, and, with his temper rapidly
rising to fever heat, wrathfully repelled the scurvy insinuation in
language which compelled the respectful attention of all the other
customers and the hasty intervention of the landlord.
"Put up the stakes," he cried impatiently. "Put up the stakes, and don't
have so much jaw about it."
"Here's mine," said Berrow, sturdily handing over a greasy fiver. "Now,
Cap'n Tucker, cover that."
"Come on," said the landlord encouragingly; "don't let him take the wind
out of your sails like that."
Tucker handed over five sovereigns.
"High water's at 12.13," said the landlord, pocketing the stakes. "You
understand the conditions?-each of you does the best he can for hisself
after eleven, an' the one what gets to Poole first has the ten quid.
Understand?"
Both gamblers breathed hard, and, fully realising the desperate nature
of the enterprise upon which they had embarked, ordered some more gin. A
rivalry of long standing as to the merits of their respective schooners
had led to them calling in the landlord to arbitrate, and this was the
result.
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