which, if the crew’s demure report was to be trusted, was partly at least due to Mrs. Quin’s equally remarkable talent for giving it exercise; so presently he observed; “A bad start, my long experience has led me to believe, frequently makes a good finish. And, after all, what a sad pity it would be, supposing we were never granted any opportunity in life for being philosophical!”
Cheerfulness is, perhaps, one of the very most desirable qualities a shipmate can possess. One felt obliged to Mr. Quin. And his wife was cheerful too, never mind what her other proclivities may have been. A heartening thing it was to see that worthy woman making the best of it at meal times—“Sure, I’ve no teeth an’ no appetite, an’ a wee bit of pitaty is all I can be ’atin’ . . . an’ just a toothful of cabbage, Mr. Black. Eh? No; a little bit more than that—an’ a crust of bread, Quin; an’ mind you, now, for you cut the last too thin for annythin’ solider than a speerit—an’ now, Cap’n, I’ll just be troublin’ you for the least littlest taste more mutton, if you plase—wid a lump o’ that fat to it. Sure I’ve not much appetite; I have not.”
We got away again during the evening, and the next day made a good run past a stretch of the coast where the Tikirau did not trade. That was a capital day. The wind was now right aft, and we sailed “goose-wing,” the foresail swung out to port, the main to starboard, and the vessel shooting buoyantly forward upon an even keel, with a joyous, exhilarating motion. The boom of the mainsail thus obligingly out of the way, the house-roof suggested itself as a pleasant point of vantage, elevated, and uncrowded; and there luxuriously
