Warn't scurcely half a dozen able seamen in the whole crew. And
the skipper and mate was master hard on 'em. In the South Atlantic we
got some bad weather and the crew was worked double tides, as you might
say.
"The extry work on top o' the poor grub finished 'em," said the
storekeeper. "One day in the mornin' watch the whole crew come boilin'
aft and caught the skipper and the mate at breakfast. _They_ lived
well. The second was in his berth and I had the deck.
"I got knocked out first thing--there's the scar of it," and the
captain put a finger again on the mark along his jaw which actually was
a memento of contact with the cellar step when he was a child.
"Belayin' pin. Knocked me inside out for Sunday. But I cal'late they
didn't put the steel to me 'cause I'd been fairly decent to 'em comin'
down from N'York.
"Then, after the fight was over and they'd hove the others overboard,
they begun to see they needed me to navigate the _Galatea_. They give
me the choice of four inches of cold steel or actin' as navigator--the
bloody crew o' pirates!"
"And what did ye do?" demanded Amiel Perdue, his mouth ajar.
Pages:
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345