Work Text:
“Do you recall,” said Jack, his voice muffled by his prone attitude and the bearskin, “that half-pay lieutenant that took three hours to win three shillings from you, in Portsmouth, in the peace?”
“Three and a half hours it was,” said Stephen, whose vanity had become involved about the second hour; “and he played very sharp. What of him?”
“Escaped prison—someone told me—after his ship was taken; escaped, and saved Spanish sailors in a storm, and went back voluntarily, with all his men; and in the end they set them free, out of mere embarrassment, I suppose.”
“I hope you do not intend to return voluntarily, brother.”
“Nothing like that; only I recall thinking, that is the strangest escape that ever I heard of.” Jack yawned and seemed to adjust his position for sleep, under the bearskin. “Well, I shall be able to tell of a stranger one.”