human
said Roswell Gardiner,
gpt
Well, to my notion, Captain Gar'ner, answered the seaman, following his officer towards the base of the cone,
human
Uncle Sam has got more land now than he knows what to do with. If a body could discover a bit of ocean, or a largish sort of a sea, there might be some use in it. Whales are getting to be skeary, and are mostly driven off their old grounds; and as for the seals, you must bury yourself, craft and all, up to the truck in ice, to get a smile from one of their good-lookin' count'nances, as I always say.
gpt
I'm afraid, Stephen, it is all over with the discovery of more seas. Even the moon, they now say, is altogether without water, having not so much as a lake or a large pond to take a duck in.
human
Without water, sir! exclaimed Stimson, quite aghast.
gpt
If 'tis so, sir, it _must_ be right, since the same hand that made the moon made this 'arth, and all it contains. But what _can_ they do for seafaring folks in the moon, if what you tell me, Captain Gar'ner, is the truth?
human
They must do without them. I fancy oil and skins are not very much in demand among the moonites, Stephen. What's that, off here to the eastward, eh? East-and-by north-half-east, or so?
gpt
I see what you mean, sir. It does look wonderfully like a sail, and a sail pretty well surrounded by ice, too!