Almost knocked one o' them down. He was a Portugee man
named Tony Spadello and he had a re'l quick temper.
"Tony had his knife out in a flash and jumped for the creature. The
other steersman yelled (one man couldn't rightly hold the wheel alone,
the sea was kicking up such a bobberation) but Tony's one slash was
enough. The albatross tumbled right down on the deck, a great cut in
its throat. It bled like a dog shark, cluttering up the deck."
"Horrid!" murmured Mrs. Conroth with a shudder of disgust.
"Yes--the poor critter!" agreed Cap'n Amazon. "I never like to see
innocent, dumb brutes killed. Cap'n Hicks--he was a young man in them
days, and boastful--cursed the mess it made, yanked off the bird's
head, so's to have the beautiful pink beak of it made into the head of
a walking-stick, and ordered Tony to throw the carcass overboard and
clean up the deck. I went to the wheel in his stead, with Jim Ledward.
Jim says to me: 'Am'zon, that bird'll foller us. Can't git rid of it
so easy as _that_.'
"I thought he was crazy," went on Cap'n Amazon, shaking his head.
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