Hocken and Hunken

Hocken and Hunken, by A. T.
Quiller-Couch

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Quiller-Couch
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Title: Hocken and Hunken
Author: A. T. Quiller-Couch
Release Date: December 30, 2004 [eBook #14533]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOCKEN
AND HUNKEN***
E-text prepared by Lionel Sear

HOCKEN AND HUNKEN
A Tale of Troy

by
Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch ('Q')

CONTENTS.
BOOK I
CHAPTER
I.
CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE.
II. THE BARBER'S CHAIR.
III. TABB'S CHILD.
IV. VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT.
V. A TESTIMONIAL.
VI. RILLA FARM.
VII. 'BIAS ARRIVES.
VIII. 'BIAS APPROVES.
BOOK II
IX. FIRST SUSPICIONS.
X. REGATTA NIGHT.
XI. MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME.
XII. AMANTIUM IRAE.

XIII. FAIR CHALLENGE.
XIV. THE LETTERS.
XV. PALMERSTON'S GENIUS.
XVI. IS IN TWO PARTS.
XVII. APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE.
BOOK III
XVIII. THE PLOUGHING.
XIX. ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS.
XX. A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH.
XXI. THE AUCTION.
XXII. THE LAST CHALLENGE.
XXIII. PASSAGE REGATTA.
XXIV. FANCY BRINGS NEWS.
XXV. CAI RENOUNCES.
XXVI. 'BIAS RENOUNCES.
XXVII. MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE.
XXVIII. JUBILEE.

BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.

CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE.
"Well, that's over!"
Captain Caius Hocken, from the stern-sheets of the boat bearing him
shoreward, slewed himself half-about for a look back at his vessel, the
Hannah Hoo barquentine. This was a ticklish operation, because he
wore a tall silk hat and had allowed his hair to grow during the passage
home--St. Michael's to Liverpool with a cargo of oranges, and from
Liverpool around to Troy in charge of a tug.
"I'm wonderin' what 'twill feel like when it comes to my turn," mused
his mate Mr Tregaskis, likewise pensively contemplating the Hannah
Hoo. "Not to be sure, sir, as I'd compare the two cases; me bein' a
married man, and you--as they say--with the ship for wife all these
years, and children too."
"I never liked the life, notwithstandin'," confessed the Captain. "And I'll
be fifty come Michaelmas. Isn' that enough?"
"Nobody likes it, sir; not at our age. But all the same I reckon there be
compensations." Mr Tregaskis, shading his eyes (for the day was
sunny), let his gaze travel up the spars and rigging of the
Barquentine--up to the truck of her maintopmast, where a gull had
perched itself and stood with tail pointing like a vane. "If the truth were
known, maybe your landsman on an average don't do as he chooses any
more than we mariners."
"Tut, man!" The Captain, who held the tiller, had ceased to look aft.
His eyes were on the quay and the small town climbing the hillside
above it in tier upon tier of huddled grey houses. "Why, damme! Your
landsman chooses to live ashore, to begin with. What's more, he can
walk where he has a mind to, no matter where the wind sits."
Mr Tregaskis shook his head. Having no hat, he was able to do this,
and it gave him some dialectical advantage over his skipper.
"In practice, sir, you'd find it depend on who's left to mind the shop."

"Home's home, all the same," said Captain Cai positively, thrusting
over the tiller to round in for the landing-stairs. "I was born and reared
in Troy, d'ye see? and as the sayin' goes--Steady on!"
A small schooner, the Pure Gem of Padstow, had warped out from the
quay overnight after discharging her ballast with the usual disregard of
the Harbour Commissioners' bye-laws; and a number of ponderable
stones, now barely covered by the tide, encumbered the foot of the
landing. On one of these the boat caught her heel, with a jerk that flung
the two oarsmen sprawling and toppled Captain Hocken's tall hat over
his nose. Mr Tregaskis thrust out a hand to catch it, but in too great a
haste. The impact of his finger-tips on the edge of the crown sent the
hat spinning forward over the thwart whereon sprawled Ben Price, the
stroke oar, and into the lap of Nathaniel Berry, bowman.
Nathaniel Berry, recovering his balance, rescued the headgear from the
grip of his knees, gave it a polite brush the wrong way of the nap, and
passed it aft to Ben Price. Ben--a bald-headed but able seaman--eyed it
a moment, rubbed it the right way dubiously with his elbow, and
handed it on to the mate; who in turn smoothed it with the palm of his
hand, which--being an alert obliging man--he had dexterously wetted
overside before the Captain could stop him.
"That's no method to improve a hat," said