Wappin' Wharf Part 4

(_She fills, mixes and stirs the pot. She tastes it like a practiced house-wife. Her ap.r.o.n is maid of all work. It is towel, dust-rag, mop and handkerchief._)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Her ap.r.o.n is towel, dust rag, mop and handkerchief]

DUKE: What does yer make, ol' Cyclops, o' the new recruit?

PATCH: Red Joe?

DUKE: Him.

PATCH: He 's a right smart pirate, I says. I never seen a feller as could shoot so straight.

DUKE: I says so. But he 's a wee bit n.o.bby--kinder stiff in the nose.

PATCH: Looks as if he knowed he was kinder good.

DUKE: It 's queer how he come ter us. Jest settin' on top his dory on the beach, when we found him. And what he said about his s.h.i.+p goin'

down! Blast me ol' stump, but it were queer.

PATCH: Queer?

DUKE: Yer said it, Patch. Queerer than mermaids. Did we ever see a stick o' that s.h.i.+p? I 'm askin' yer, Patch.

PATCH: Ain 't I listenin'?

DUKE: Ain 't I tellin' yer? Nary a bit washed in. Did yer ever know a wreck 'long here where nothin' washed in--jest nothin'? I 'm askin'

yer.

PATCH: You and me would starve if it happened regular.

DUKE: It 's what we lives by--pickin's on the beach.

PATCH: He 's a right smart pirate, 's Red Joe. The Captain--the most 'ticerler man I know--he took ter him at once. He 's a kinder good-lookin' feller.

DARLIN': (_stirring at the pot_). He ain 't got whiskers like the Duke.

(_She spits--must I say it?--she spits into the fire._)

DUKE: Queer that never a stick washed in.

PATCH: I 'm not denyin' yer, Duke. Where 's Red Joe now? It 's gettin'

on. I 'll jest take a look fer him. (_He takes the lantern from its hook and stands at the open door._) It ain 't blowin' so hard. Ol'

Borealis--I speaks poetical--ain 't strainin' at his waistcoat b.u.t.tons like he was.

DUKE: Igerence! I pities yer. Borealis ain 't wind. He 's rainbows.

(_Patch-Eye goes into the night. The Duke sits to a greasy game of solitaire._)

DUKE: It 's queer, I says. Nary a stick! Jest Red Joe on top his dory!

(_He sings abstractedly._)

[Music: PIRATE CHANTY]

Bill Bones used ter say, on many a day, When takin' a s.h.i.+p fer its loot, That a blow on the head was quickest dead And safest and best ter boot.

But a wictim's end, fer meself I contend-- There 's a hundred been killed by me-- Is a walk, I 'll be frank, on a slippery plank, And a splash in the roarin' sea.

(_He turns and surveys the drawing above the windows. He c.o.c.ks his head like a connoisseur, critically--with approval._)

DUKE: I 'm the artist o' that there masterpiece. The Spittin' Devil! I done it on a rainy mornin'. Genius is queer. (_Then he sings again._)

Ol' Pew had a jerk with a long-handled dirk-- His choice was a jab in the dark--

(_He is engaged thus, fumbling with his cards, when Darlin', crossing from the fire, interrupts him._)

DARLIN': Duke, will yer have a nip o' grog? It eases yer pipes. Yer sounds as if yer had crumbs in yer gullet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "It eases yer pipes"]

(_The Duke pushes forward his cup._)

DUKE: It 's a lovely tune, and I wrote the words meself. (_He continues his song._)

Old Pew had a jerk with a long-handled dirk-- His choice was a jab in the dark-- And Morgan's crew, 'twixt me and you, Considered a rope a lark.

But a prettier end, I repeat and contend-- And I 've sailed on every sea-- Is a plunge off the side in the foamin' tide.

It tickles a sailor like me.

DARLIN': Duke, does yer happen ter have a wife?

DUKE: (_deeply engaged_). Some tunes is hard, so I jest makes 'em up as I goes along.

Blackbeard had a knife which he stuck in his wife.

Fer naggin', says he ter me--

DARLIN': Has yer a wife? A wife as might turn up, I mean.

DUKE: Say it agin, Darlin'.

DARLIN': Most sailors has wives o' course, strewed here and there from Bristol to Guinea--jest ter make all ports cozy. So 's yer goin' home ter a 'appy family, no matter where yer steers.

DUKE: It 's comfertable, Darlin'--I 'll not deny it--when yer heads ter harbor to see a winkin' candle in a winder on a hill, and know that a faithful wife and a couple o' leetle pirates is waitin' ter hug yer.

DARLIN': I says so, Duke. I 've been a wife meself on and off, with husbands sailin' in and out--kissin' yer and 'oistin' sail.

Roundabout, I says, makes 'appy marriages. Has yer a wife, Duke--livin', as yer can remember?

DUKE: Yer a bold, for'ard creature. Are yer proposin' ter me?

(_Something like a wink shows in the blush._)

DARLIN': I blush fer yer bad manners, Duke. I 'm a lady and I waits patient fer the 'appy question. I lets me beauty do the pleadin'. I was a flamin' roarer in me time. Lovers was nothin'. Dozens! There was a sea-captain once--(_She smiles dreamily, then seems to cut her throat with her little finger._) Positive! Jest 'cause we tiffed. And a stage-coach driver! I had ter cool his pa.s.sion with a rollin' pin.