That 's why they 're more lovable than cats , I reckon . But I 'm darned if they 're as interesting . Here I am , talking too much . Why do n't you check me ? When I do get a chance to talk to anyone I run on turrible . If you 've done your tea I 've a few little things you might like to look at -- picked 'em up in the queer corners I used to be poking my nose into . '' Captain Jim 's `` few little things '' turned out to be a most interesting collection of curios , hideous , quaint and beautiful . And almost every one had some striking story attached to it . Anne never forgot the delight with which she listened to those old tales that moonlit evening by that enchanted driftwood fire , while the silver sea called to them through the open window and sobbed against the rocks below them . Captain Jim never said a boastful word , but it was impossible to help seeing what a hero the man had been -- brave , true , resourceful , unselfish . He sat there in his little room and made those things live again for his hearers . By a lift of the eyebrow , a twist of the lip , a gesture , a word , he painted a whole scene or character so that they saw it as it was . Some of Captain Jim 's adventures had such a marvellous edge that Anne and Gilbert secretly wondered if he were not drawing a rather long bow at their credulous expense . But in this , as they found later , they did him injustice . His tales were all literally true . Captain Jim had the gift of the born storyteller , whereby `` unhappy , far-off things '' can be brought vividly before the hearer in all their pristine poignancy . Anne and Gilbert laughed and shivered over his tales , and once Anne found herself crying . Captain Jim surveyed her tears with pleasure shining from his face . `` I like to see folks cry that way , '' he remarked . `` It 's a compliment .
But I ca n't do justice to the XXXXX I 've seen or helped to do .
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