He had professed to like him during the conversation at the breakfast table which resulted in his remaining at the lights, but then he was not entirely serious.

He was, of course, grateful for the kindness shown him by the odd longshoreman and enjoyed the latter's society and droll remarks as he would have enjoyed anything out of the ordinary and quaintly amusing.

But now he really liked the man.

Seth Atkins was a countryman, and a marked contrast to any individual Brown had ever met, but he was far from being a fool.

He possessed a fund of dry common sense, and his comments on people and happenings in the world--a knowledge of which he derived from the newspapers and magazines obtained on his trips to Eastboro--were a constant delight.