"I understand you.

You're prickly to handle, but you're straight all through." "The position's got to be understood, though," returned Nares, perhaps a trifle mollified.

"My position, I mean.

I'm not going to ship sailing-master; it's enough out of my way already, to set a foot on this mosquito schooner." "Well, I'll tell you," retorted Jim, with an indescribable twinkle: "you just meet me on the ballast, and we'll make it a barquentine." Nares laughed a little; tactless Pinkerton had once more gained a victory in tact.

"Then there's another point," resumed the captain, tacitly relinquishing the last.