CHAPTER ELEVEN
Group Sports
The sultry Walnut Creek night had kept most people of The Nail and Smith. The pub's food service room only some youngish 20's types clustered in a booth, tryi to be thoughtful. The three lads had glass half-pints black draft stout. One damsel sipped at bright ale; other poured foaming Anchor Steam Beer into her stein Ken Gormish waved through the doorway at a fi regulars in the hard-drinking bar, but he stayed in the f room and slid into a dark walnut booth.
The sound system droned with a nasal, north cou English voice.
"Come all ye young rascals who follow the sea- Come lift your bold voices if ye'd ever be free . . .
"I sing of black cruises, men broken with toil. I sing of blood staining our fleet's banner royal."
A tit-heavy chestnut-haired waitress wa
