CHAPTER VIII
WALTER AND SI DORING
"Walter!"
"What is it, Si?"
"Answer me a conundrum."
"All right, fire away, but don't make it too hard, for this heat has made my brain lazy."
"When is this tub going to reach Manila?"
"I thought you would ask that question, Si Doring. How do I know? Go ask the quartermaster, or the deck officer, or the cook. They know more about it than I do." Walter Russell arose from the deck and stretched himself. "Joking aside, though, it is an awfully long-winded trip, isn't it?"
"Long?" returned Si Doring, a thin-nosed, bright-eyed young Yankee sailor. "I tell you, Walter, that don't half express it. It's wuss nor long, ten times over. To me it's about a year since we sailed from Honolulu, and five years since we left San Francisco. If we don't hurry up, by
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