McGuffey coughed
and tears as big as marbles cascaded down the honest Gibney's
rubicund countenance.
"I ain't wuth your sympathy after the way I treated you," Captain
Scraggs cried brokenly.
"Shet up, you little bum," Mr. Gibney cried furiously. "Or I'll
bang you in that other eye that's ready for bangin'."
"If you're shy a few bucks----" McGuffey began.
"I am," Captain Scraggs wailed. "I'm worried to death. I don't
know how I'm ever goin' to pay for that bloody boiler an' git to
sea with the _Maggie_----"
"Little sorrel-top," Mr. Gibney murmured, ruffling Scraggs's thin
blonde hair. "Forget them sordid monetary considerations. I'm
somethin' like forty jumps ahead o' the devil an' ruination for the
first time since me an' Bull McGinty organized the Brotherhood o'
the South Seas----"
"Leggo me," snarled Captain Scraggs and springing back, he bent
and looked earnestly into Mr. Gibney's happy countenance. "Good
land o' Goshen, if you ain't him!" Hate gleamed in his eyes.
"Ain't who, you shrimp!" Mr. Gibney was mystified at this abrupt
change of attitude.
Captain Scraggs blinked and passed his hand wearily across his
brow. "Forgive me, Gib," he answered humbly.
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