"I've seen some bughouse crews in my time, but this one's the limit." "What are you going to do ?" I asked.

"The man will bleed to death." "And good riddance," he answered promptly.

"We'll have our hands full of him until we can lose him somehow.

When he gets easy I'll sew him up, that's all, if I have to ease him with a clout of the jaw." I glanced at the mate's huge paw and appreciated its anaesthetic qualities.

Out on deck again, I saw Captain West on the poop, hands still in pockets, quite uninterested, gazing at a blue break in the sky to the north-east.