



Produced by David Widger




SAILORS' KNOTS

By W.W. Jacobs


1909



SELF-HELP


The night-watchman sat brooding darkly over life and its troubles.  A
shooting corn on the little toe of his left foot, and a touch of liver,
due, he was convinced, to the unlawful cellar work of the landlord of the
Queen's Head, had induced in him a vein of profound depression.  A
discarded boot stood by his side, and his gray-stockinged foot protruded
over the edge of the jetty until a passing waterman gave it a playful rap
with his oar.  A subsequent inquiry as to the price of pigs' trotters
fell on ears rendered deaf by suffering.

"I might 'ave expected it," said the watchman, at last.  "I done that
man--if you can call him a man--a kindness once, and this is my reward
for it.  Do a