I am a man that would have paid for you both o ' Thursday morning ; and now here I be , o ' Saturday night , begging for a flagon of ale ! Ask my man Tom , if ye misdoubt me . Seven pieces of good Gascon wine , a ship that was mine own , and was my father 's before me , a Blessed Mary of plane-tree wood and parcel-gilt , and thirteen pounds in gold and silver . Hey ! what say ye ? A man that fought the French , too ; for I have fought the French ; I have cut more French throats upon the high seas than ever a man that sails out of Dartmouth . Come , a penny piece . '' Neither Dick nor Lawless durst answer him a word , lest he should recognise their voices ; and they stood there as helpless as a ship ashore , not knowing where to turn nor what to hope . `` Are ye dumb , boy ? '' inquired the skipper . `` Mates , '' he added , with a hiccup , `` they be dumb . I like not this manner of discourtesy ; for an a man be dumb , so be as he 's courteous , he will still speak when he was spoken to , methinks . '' By this time the sailor , Tom , who was a man of great personal strength , seemed to have conceived some suspicion of these two speechless figures ; and being soberer than his captain , stepped suddenly before him , took Lawless roughly by the shoulder , and asked him , with an oath , what ailed him that he held his tongue . To this the outlaw , thinking all was over , made answer by a wrestling feint that stretched the sailor on the sand , and , calling upon Dick to follow him , took to his heels among the lumber . The affair passed in a second . Before Dick could run at all , Arblaster had him in his arms ; Tom , crawling on his face , had caught him by one foot , and the third man had a drawn cutlass brandishing above his head . It was not so much the danger , it was not so much the annoyance , that now bowed down the spirits of young Shelton ; it was the profound humiliation to have escaped Sir Daniel , convinced Lord Risingham , and now fall helpless in the hands of this old , drunken sailor ; and not merely helpless , but , as his conscience loudly told him when it was too late , actually guilty -- actually the bankrupt debtor of the man whose ship he had stolen and lost . `` Bring me him back into the alehouse , till I see his face , '' said Arblaster . `` Nay , nay , '' returned Tom ; `` but let us first unload his wallet , lest the other lads cry share . '' But though he was searched from head to foot , not a penny was found upon him ; nothing but Lord Foxham 's signet , which they plucked savagely from his finger .
`` Turn me him to the moon , '' said the skipper ; and taking XXXXX by the chin , he cruelly jerked his head into the air .
Arblaster Dick Mary Risingham alehouse discourtesy hiccup methinks parcel-gilt signet