They generally
takes me on them jobs, the reason bein' that I know a deal o' foreign
languages. I don't believe there's a country in the world where I couldn't
make myself understood, partic'lar when I'm wantin' a drink bad.
"I wasn't takin' that much notice of this 'ere ship at the time (there was
a bit of a nasty jobble on the water, for one thing, and we 'ad our work
cut out gettin' alongside), except that 'er name was the _Maria de
Somethink-or-other_--some Dago name. But while we was waitin' for the
lootenant to finish 'is business with Old Monkey Brand, which was the
black-faced Chileno captain she 'ad, it come over me all of a suddent.
"'Strike me pink!' I says, 'may my name be Dennis if I 'aven't seen that
there bit o' fancy-work on the poop ladder rails before;' which so I 'ad,
for I done it myself in the doldrums, an' a nice bit o' work it was, too.
"You'll 'ave guessed by now that she was none other than the _Pearl of
Asia_; an' no wonder I 'adn't reckernised 'er, what with the mess she was
in alow and aloft, an' allyminian paint all over the poop railin's as would
'ave made our old blue-nose mate die o' rage.
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