With his third retort his temper would begin to rise, and within five minutes he would be blowing a gale, and within fifteen his smoking-room audience would be utterly stormed away and the old man left solitary and alone, banging the table with his fist, kicking the chairs, and roaring a hurricane of profanity.

It got so, after a while, that whenever the Admiral approached, with politics in his eye, the passengers would drop out with quiet accord, afraid to meet him; and he would camp on a deserted field.
But he found his match at last, and before a full company.

At one time or another, everybody had entered the lists against him and been routed, except the quiet passenger Williams.

He had never been able to get an expression of opinion out of him on politics.

But now, just as the Admiral drew near the door and the company were about to slip out, Williams said: "Admiral, are you certain about that circumstance concerning the clergymen you mentioned the other day ?"--referring to a piece of the Admiral's manufactured history.
Every one was amazed at the man's rashness.