"Mind what you say, old twenty breeches--wouldn't fight--when wouldn't
we fight?"

"Here, where we were now, by Got, you leave us all in the lurch, and not
come down."

"Why, we couldn't come down."

"Bah!" replied Jansen, who referred to the defeat of the combined Dutch
and English fleet by the French off Beachy Head in 1690.

"We wouldn't fight, heh?" exclaimed Obadiah in scorn, "what do you say
to the Hogue?"

"Yes, den you fought well--dat was good."

"And shall I tell you why we fought well at the Hogue--you Dutch
porpoise--just because we had no Dutchmen to help us."

"And shall I tell you why the Dutch were beat off this Head?--because
the English wouldn't come down to help us."

Here Obadiah put his tongue into his right cheek. Jansen in return threw
his into his left, and thus the argument was finished. These disputes
were constant at the time, but seldom proceeded further than words--
certainly not between Coble and Jansen, who were great friends.

The boats were soon on board; from the time that the cutter had been
hove-to, every stroke of their oars having been accompanied with a
nautical anathema from the crews upon the head of their commander. The