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For loath to depart, yet; very loath to leave, for good, a ship bound on so long and perilous a voyage beyond both stormy Capes; a ship in which some thousands of his hardearned dollars were invested; a ship, in which an old shipmate sailed as captain; a man almost as old as he, once more starting to encounter all the terrors of the pitiless jaw; loath to say good-bye to a thing so every way brimful of every interest to him, poor old Bildad lingered long; paced the deck with anxious strides; ran down into the cabin to speak another farewell word there; again came on deck, and looked to windward; looked towards the wide and endless waters, only bounded by the far-off unseen Eastern Continents; looked towards the land; looked aloft; looked right and left; looked everywhere and nowhere; and at last, mechanically coiling a rope upon its pin, convulsively grasped stout Peleg by the hand, and holding up a lantern, for a moment stood gazing heroically in his face, as much as to say, "Nevertheless, friend Peleg, I can stand it; yes, I can."
No one was at all the worse for the adventure, and Green's old shipmate, Pat Casey, from being able to speak the language of the natives, proved of great assistance during the remainder of the cruise. He, to be sure, did not always make himself understood, but that might have been because the natives spoke a different dialect to the one he had acquired.
'Tis a thing that flits i' the dark and with never a sound, that watches and listens. It mounted the ladder yonder scarce a moment since plain to my sight " "Yet I saw nothing, Martin. And not a soul stirring, save the watch forward, the steersman aft, and myself." "Why then I'm verily mad!" says I. "Not you, shipmate, not you.
"I want new clothes, food, and lodging of the best, and my pockets filled with money." "You had better go and look for all those things, then," said Mullet. "You won't find them here." "Ay!" said the other, rising. "Well, well There was a hundred guineas on the head of my old shipmate Rogers some fifteen years ago. I'll see whether it has been earned yet."
He rolled off down the road, and the two men, the simple traditions of whose lives forbade them to leave a shipmate when in that condition, followed him, growling. For half an hour they walked with him through the silent streets of the little town.
Our grim shipmate, death, did not go over the side till he had marked yet another victim for his insatiate grasp; for, to-day, Mr. Scoble, one of our engineers, died. He, too, was buried at sea, though we were only a few hours from port. On the morn of this day, September 17th, we passed the strait of Bab-el-mandeb Arabic for "Gate of Tears" an extremely appropriate name, too, I should think.
"'Twas great, shipmate, and you deserved it!" declared magnanimous Captain Jerry, wringing his hand. "'Tain't ha'f what you ought to have, Eri," said Captain Perez. "I haven't said much to thank you for savin' Luther," whispered Miss Patience, "but I hope you know that we both appreciate what you done and never 'll forgit it."
If you believe all she says, you are to blame. The thing that went to my heart was to see my skipper run out his stunsel booms the moment he saw me overhauling him; it was a dirty action, and him an old shipmate. I am glad now I couldn't catch her, for if I had my foot would not have been on the deck two seconds before his carcass would have been in the Channel.
He was one day standing on the beach, when a cutter brought up in the bay, and her boat soon afterwards came on shore with a passenger. No sooner did the old lieutenant see him than he hurried to the boat, and grasping his hand as he stepped on shore, exclaimed, "Welcome, welcome, old shipmate; I knew, Askew, that you would find me out some day; and so you have; come along!"
I shall probably be seeing Mr Fawcett to-day, and I venture to hope that my visit will do him more good than all the doctors in the hospital. Come and dine with me to- night; I want to hear the story of that Indian Queen affair in a little more detail, and there are other matters upon which I may have something to say to you. And bring your shipmate what did you say his name is?
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