Could it be you, in spite of all your talk about not
drinking? You Anglo-Saxons are such dirty hypocrites."
"Indeed, no, sir,--it isn't me."
"Well, this cabin's in your care, and so is the storeroom. You keep a
watch-out and find out for me who it is.... I don't think its Miller or
the second mate ... it must be either the cook or that old rogue of a
sailmaker....
"Or it might be some of the crew," he further speculated, "but anyhow,
it's your job to take care of the cabin, as I said before....
"Remember this--all sailors are thieves, aboard ship, if the chance to
take anything good to eat or drink comes their way."
I promised to keep a good look-out.
On the other hand....
"Mind you keep your mouth shut ... and don't find things so damned
funny, neither," this from the first mate, early one morning, as I
scrubbed the floors. He stirred my posteriors heavily with a booted
foot, in emphasis.
* * * * *
The sea kicked backward in long, speedy trails of foam, lacing the
surface of a grey-green waste of waves....
* * * * *
When I had any spare time, I used to lie in the net under the bowsprit,
and read. From there I could look back on the entire ship as it sailed
ahead, every sail spread, a magnificent sight.
One day, as I lay there, reading Shelley, or was it my Vergil that I was
puzzling out line by line, with occasional glances at the great ship
seeming to sail into me--myself poised outward in space--
There came a great surge of water.
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