In the Great White Land by Gordon Stables

Both Curtis and Ingomar were capital story-tellers or "yarn spinners," and the tales they told the boys helped to while away the time on many a forenight which might otherwise have felt long. I give the following as specimen; it was told by Curtis: --

"I liked Jack Hardy from the very first day I clapped eyes on him. Had I got that lad into the British Navy, I should have been proud to have seen him among his pals drawn up for inspection on the flagship's deck, first Sunday after entering. But this young Jack was an American Jack, and his ship was the bold _Iowa_, on which my hammock was hung _pro temp._, and the time was very shortly after the capitulation or capture of Santiago, and destruction of the fleet of Cervera.