Page:Morley roberts--Blue Peter--sea yarns.djvu/93

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SITUATION OF CAPTAIN BROGGER
77

"The man we agreed to put on board is sick," said the runner, "and as all our crowd here is fixed up for, we've wired down to Astoria to our other house to send you a good man in his place."

"Right," said Plump, who was standing on the fo'c'sle head—"right you are. Ay, ay, sir, let go that head-line! Jump and haul—haul it in, men!"

The men were cheerful; there was something in the voice of a real man now on the poop that bucked them up. And they knew as well as Plump himself that he was happy to have got rid of Brogger. The Enchantress looked as if she was to be a happy ship on the passage home.

"You seem a derned happy family," said the runner to Jack Eales as he skipped ashore.

"So we are," said Jack. "But tell us what's the name of the chap that'll come aboard at Astoria."

"His name," said the runner—"his name—oh, it's Bill Juggins!"

For he knew that Jack Eales knew more than he 'let on.'

"The new man's name is Bill Juggins," he told Corlett five minutes later, as they began