Page:The Dark Frigate (Hawes).djvu/47

Phil shook his head, and the three went on together.

Three times more they stopped. The penny changed hands and one or the other drank. Martin’s speech grew thicker and his companion’s face flushed.

“Neither one of us nor the other,” said the thin man, with a flourish of his hand, “is often seen in drink. There is a reason for it this time, though. ‘If any chuff,’ say I, ‘can buy good wine for a half crown the jug and sell it at profit for tuppence the can, why cannot we?’ So we ha’ laid down our half crown and set out upon the road to peddle our goods, when Martin must needs drink for his thirst, which, as the Scripture hath it, endureth forever. ‘But,’ quoth I, ‘for every pot a penny to him and a penny to me.’ ‘Why,’ quoth he,”—lowering his voice, the thin man whispered to Phil, “He is a rare fool at times,” then resumed in his ordinary voice,—“‘Why,’ quoth he, ‘here ’s thy penny for thee.’ So, presently, I to him: his penny for the wine that I drink. Before we have gone far it comes upon me as a wondrous thrifty thought, that the more we drink the more we earn.”—Again he whispered to Phil, drawing him aside, “When I had drunk a few cans, which much enlivened my wits, I saw he was not so great a fool as I had thought”; and resumed his ordinary voice— “’T is little wonder that all the world desires to keep an alehouse or a tavern!”

Never was there plainer example of befuddled wits! Passing back and forth, from one to the other, the single penny, the two had consumed their stock in trade, believing that they were earning great profit on their investment. Perceiving that the jug was nearly empty, Phil waited with quiet interest for the outcome.

They stopped again in the road. Martin handed the