He rubbed the frosted moisture from the inside of the window and
peered out at the pouring rain, through which he could discern
nothing.
"When I was a young men I used tull be afeard thot the owners would
guv me the sack. Stull afeard I am of the sack. But once thot
farm is mine I wull no be afeard ony longer. Ut's a puir job thus
sea-farmun'. Me managin' un all seas an' weather an' perils o' the
deep a shup worth fufty thousand pounds, wuth cargoes ot times
worth fufty thousand more--a hundred thousand pounds, half a
million dollars uz the Yankees say, an' me wuth all the
responsubility gettun' a screw o' twenty pounds a month. What mon
ashore, managin' a buz'ness worth a hundred thousand pounds wull be
gettun' uz small a screw uz twenty pounds? An' wuth such masters
uz a captun serves--the owners, the underwriters, an' the Board o'
Trade, all pullun' an wantun' dufferent thungs--the owners wantun'
quick passages an' domn the rusk, the underwriters wantun' safe
passages an' domn the delay, an' the Board o' Trade wantun'
cautious passages an' caution always meanun' delay. Three
dufferent masters, an' all three able an' wullun' to break ye uf ye
don't serve their dufferent wushes."
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