"Jerushy!" he exclaimed, "look at that mainmast! Look at the rake of it!
More like a yacht than a deep-water bark, she is enough sight. And the
fust mate's got a uniform cap on, like a purser on a steamboat. Make
that artist feller take that cap off him, Jim. He's got to. I wish he
could have seen some of my mates. They wa'n't Cunarder dudes, but they
could make a crew hop 'round like a sand-flea in a clam bake."
Or, when the picture happened to be a shore view:
"What kind of a house is that? Did you ever see a house like that
Down-East? I'll leave it to anybody if it don't look like a sugar man's
plantation I used to know down Mobile way. All that feller standin'
by the door needs is to have his face blacked; then he'd start singin'
'S'wanee River.' This ain't 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Bah!"
The advance copy, the first one, was ready early in September, and the
author, of course, brought it immediately to his friends. They found
the dedication especially interesting: "To C. W. and E. W., consulting
specialists at the literary clinics, with grateful acknowledgments."
Probably Captain Elisha was never prouder of anything, even his first
command, than of that dedication.
And the story, when at last it appeared for sale, was almost from the
beginning a success.
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