United States or Turkmenistan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Two bells went, and then three, and the lady did not come. At last Wong, the Chinese steward, came forward. "All slick man go aft," says he. "Lady flix um." "Is she not coming forward?" asked Newman. "No can do. Slick man lay aft." "What have you there?" I demanded, for he bore a glass filled with liquid. "Dosey. Mlissa Mate, him say give slick man inside," and he pointed into the foc'sle.
He lifted his hand, and carelessly placed his forefinger on the outer side of his bunk, and when he lifted it, two of the myriad cockroaches that infested the foc'sle were mashed fiat on the board. Blackie's face set sullenly, and the angry blood darkened his cheeks. Boston wriggled uneasily on his seat, and cleared his throat as though about to speak.
The mate's latent sense of discipline was roused and he jumped up in a fury. "My !" he said, "if there ain't the whole blasted ship's company aft every man Jack of 'em! Come down in the cabin, gentlemen, come down and have a drop of Hollands and a cigar apiece. All the riffraff o' the foc'sle sitting aft and prattling about the skipper like a parcel o' washerwomen. And smoking, by ! smoking!
A fine hole for a young fool to seek! But I was a man, remember a MAN and that precious discharge proved it. I was nineteen years old, and manhood bears a very serious aspect at nineteen. No wonder I was holding my head in the air. The fellows in my watch would listen to my opinions with respect, now I was an able seaman. No longer would I scrub the foc'sle floor while the lazy beggars slept.
Now they were fairly shrewd men, even if they were damned rascals, and one would have thought they possessed sufficient insight to at least be suspicious of the skipper's sudden 'bout-face. But they were not. They were just as convinced as the rest of the stiffs that the afterguard had suddenly become afraid of the foc'sle.
In the morning the bo'sun came along dragging after him a hose to wash the foc'sle head, and, beholding the shiny cabin lamps, resplendent in the morning light, one on each side of the bowsprit, he was paralysed with awe. He dropped the nozzle from his nerveless hands and such hands, too! I happened along, and he said to me in a distracted whisper: "Look at that, sir, look."
Keller's retort was of so insulting a character that in another moment the two men to the intense delight of the crew were fighting on the after-deck. Lopes and the cooper, as in duty bound, sprang forward and seized their fellow-officer, but the captain, with an oath, bade them stand aside. "I'll pound you first," he cried hoarsely to Frewen, "then I'll kick you into the foc'sle."
As number one man, it was my place to see that the men stood their "peggy" that is, they took their regular turn about at getting the food at meal time, and cleaning up the foc'sle. It came Boston's peggy day. He didn't like it a bit. He thought himself too good for such menial tasks, and suggested that Shorty, the smallest and weakest of the stiffs, be made permanent peggy.
Did he think that Captain Swope was planning the cold-blooded murder of an able seaman? There was the question. In one way, it opposed my reason. Of course, this was a hell-ship, and murder might very well take place on board. But that the captain should deliberately plot the removal of a foc'sle hand! Able seamen were not of such importance in a hell-ship.
"There will be no scheme set on foot from this foc'sle, save the one I father," he told the pair in his cool, level voice. "I gave you your answer last night. Now, if you two come between me and my goal, in this ship, as God lives, I'll kill you!" With that, he swung about and stepped into the port foc'sle. "Come on, Shreve," he said to me, over his shoulder. "Lend a hand.
Word Of The Day