Frick is not the quickest guy in the world even when he’s sober, and it’s pretty obvious, just from looking at his pupils, that he and his comrades have brought some opium aboard. "Wull, uh, I guess so," he says. He looks around at his crew of gripers, who are a little confused and a little amused. He unlaces his boots. Bobby Shaftoe takes those disgraceful things away and returns a bit later with them resplendently shined. By this time, Frick has gotten high and mighty. "Wull, those boots look real good, Corporal Shaftoe," he says in a brassy voice. "Darned if you ain’t as good a shoe-shiner as my coolie boy was."