That was the worst performance of all.

It was like listening to one end of a telephone, though we didn't know what telephones were in those days.

He began when he was a kid, and he gave his side of conversations, pausing for replies.

I could mighty near furnish the replies sometimes.

It was queer lingo--about ships and ships' officers and gales and calms and fights and pearls and whales and islands and birds and skies.