The instrument was wheezy, for in addition to the sacrilege the port authorities had done by way of disinfection, the bellows had been wetted when Fred plunged from the sinking Bundesrath and swam.

But he is not what you could call particular, as long as a good loud noise comes forth that can be jerked and broken into anything resembling tune.
"Tempted, are you ?" he laughed.

He looked like a drunken troubadour en deshabille, with those up-brushed mustaches and his usually neat brown beard all spread awry.

"Temptation's more fun than plunder!" Yerkes threw an orange at him, more by way of recognition than remonstrance.

We had not heard Fred sing since he tried to charm cholera victims in the Bundesrath's fo'castle, and, like the rest of us, he had his rights.