After
first looking attentively at Richard, he took his uncle straight back to
the story by means of a question, thus:
"You don't mean to say that the captain of the ship threw the man
overboard?"
"That is just what he did, Launce. The poor wretch was too ill to work
his passage. The captain declared he would have no idle foreign vagabond
in his ship to eat up the provisions of Englishmen who worked. With his
own hands he cast the hen-coop into the water, and (assisted by one of
his sailors) he threw the man after it, and told him to float back to
Liverpool with the evening tide."
"A lie!" cried Turlington, addressing himself, not to Sir Joseph, but to
Launce.
"Are you acquainted with the circumstances?" asked Launce, quietly.
"I know nothing about the circumstances. I say, from my own experience,
that foreign sailors are even greater blackguards than English sailors.
The man had met with an accident, no doubt. The rest of his story was a
lie, and the object of it was to open Sir Joseph's purse."
Sir Joseph mildly shook his head.
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