_Charles._ That is the first impulse--unless he’s bald.
_Bobstay_ (_extending hand_). Put it there; give us your flipper (_they shake hands_). All right. Here’s your hand and ’ere’s my head! Take a good hold of it, as if I was agoin’ down for the last time. Now, steady. (CHARLES _takes hold of his wig, and_ BOBSTAY _seizes his beard_.) Let fall all! (_He stands back, pulling off whiskers._ CHARLES _pulls off wig_.)
_Bobstay._ Hush! Easy, Charley, easy. Bobstay of the Indigo Blue, he went up--no, down--leastwise he went off. I’m a sperit, you understand? I’m the Ancient Mariner--Captain Kyd--the Great Unknown--anything you please but Bobstay. He mysteriously disappeared; let him be missed.
_Charles._ But what have you been doing? What’s the trouble?
_Bobstay._ A deep one--deeper than the sea. Hush! Put it there (_shakes hands_). There’s a woman at the bottom.
_Charles._ At the bottom of the sea? Good gracious!
_Bobstay._ No. I wish she was, Charley. Put it there (_shakes hands_). You’ve heard me speak of Spanker, skipper of the Venetian Red?
_Charles._ Many a time. He was a particular friend of yours, I believe.
_Bobstay._ Charley, listen to a tale that would make the marines blush. When I reached Valparaiso on my last run, I found the Venetian Red there before me; but I found that Spanker had “mysteriously disappeared.”[A] His hat and coat were found upon the pier, and he was supposed to be beneath the waves.
[A] A wink and finger on side of nose when these words are used through the play.
_Bobstay._ Charley, he left a widow. I found her in Venetian Red on board the mourning black,--no--in mourning red onboard the Venetian--
_Charles._ No matter about the colors; go on.
_Bobstay._ Charley, she was in distress; and did you ever hear of a tar who found a lass in distress, and deserted her? Never. In a week I had asked her to marry me. In ten days we were married in church.
_Bobstay._ Mysteriously disappeared; that’s the p’int. We were married in church. And now for an astonishing disclosure. When we came out of church, who should I see but Spanker--the dead and gone Spanker--peeping round a corner, with a grin on his face and a finger on his nose.
_Charles._ Unhappy man! How did you act? What did you say?