"He was christened John," cried the delighted Captain Cuttle. "Hear him!"
"And what I says," pursued the voice, after some deliberation, "I stands to.
The Captain, with Florence on his arm, nodded at the auditory, and seemed to say, "Now he"s coming out. This is what I meant when I brought him."
"Whereby," proceeded the voice, "why not? If so, what odds? Can any man say otherwise? No. Awast then!"
When it had pursued its train of argument to this point, the voice stopped, and rested. It then proceeded very slowly, thus:
"Do I believe that this here Son and Heir"s gone down, my lads? Mayhap. Do I say so? Which? If a skipper stands out by Sen" George"s Channel, making for the Downs, what"s right ahead of him? The Goodwins. He isn"t foroed to run upon the Goodwins, but he may. The bearings of this observation lays in the application on it. That ain"t no part of my duty. Awast then, keep a bright look-out for"ard, and good luck to you!"
The voice here went out of the back parlour and into the street, taking the Commander of the Cautious Clara with it, and accompanying him on board again with all convenient expedition, where he immediately turned in, and refreshed his mind with a nap.
The students of the sage"s precepts, left to their own application of his wisdom - upon a principle which was the main leg of the Bunsby tripod, as it is perchance of some other oracular stools - looked upon one another in a little uncertainty; while Rob the Grinder, who had taken the innocent freedom of peering in, and listening, through the skylight in the roof, came softly down from the leads, in a state of very dense confusion. Captain Cuttle, however, whose admiration of Bunsby was, if possible, enhanced by the splendid manner in which he had justified his reputation and come through this solemn reference, proceeded to explain that Bunsby meant nothing but confidence; that Bunsby had no misgivings; and that such an opinion as that man had given, coming from such a mind as his, was Hope"s own anchor, with good roads to cast it in. Florence endeavoured to believe that the Captain was right; but the Nipper, with her arms tight folded, shook her head in resolute denial, and had no more trust m Bunsby than inMr Perch himself.