"Gute alte _Valkyrie!_.. gute alte _Valkyrie!_" he murmured.
* * * * *
Safe so far. At the outside of the dock-gate Hoppner waited my arrival.
He was interested in the kuemmel, and in the pistols, which were
pawnable.
He had been more daring than I. He had tried to pick his captain's
pocket of a gold watch while the latter slept. But every time he reached
for it the captain stirred uneasily. He would have snatched it anyhow,
but just then his first mate stepped into the cabin ... "and I hid till
the mate went out again."
"And what then?"
"I picked up a lot of silverware the captain had for show occasions ...
that I found, rummaging about."
"And him there sleeping?"
"Why not?"
"I found four revolvers that belonged to the mates and captain. I put
them all in one bundle and chucked them into a rowboat over the ship's
side. And now we must go back to your boat--"
"To my boat?" I asked, amazed.
"Yes" (I had told him how nearly I had missed our ship-money).
"To your boat, and ransack the cabin till we locate that coin."
"That's too risky."
"Hell, take a chance, can't you?"
That's what Hoppner was always saying as long as we travelled together:
"Hell, take a chance."
But when I began telling him with convulsive laughter, of the revenge I
had taken on the mate ... and also how I had thrown all the keys
overboard, Hoppner, instead of joining in with my laughter, struck at
me, not at all playfully, "What kind of damn jackass have I joined up
with, anyhow," he exclaimed.
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