In the Sargasso Sea | Page 7

a dressing--which I very
well could have done, had we come to fighting, for I was a bigger man
than he was and a stronger man, too.
It is rather absurd as I look back at it, considering what a taking I was
in and how strong was my desire just then to punch Captain Luke's
head for him, that while I was at the top of my rage he came aft to
where I was leaning against the rail and put his hand on my shoulder as
friendly as possible and asked me to come down into the cabin to
supper. I suppose I had a queer pale look, because of my anger, for he
said not to mind if I did feel sickish, but to eat all the same and I would
feel better for it; and he really was so cordial and so pleasant that for a

moment or two I could not answer him. It was upsetting, when I was so
full of fight, to have him come at me in that friendly way; and I must
say that I felt rather sheepish, and wondered whether I had not been
working myself up over a mare's-nest as I followed him below.
We had the mate to supper with us, at a square table in the middle of
the cabin, and at breakfast the next morning we had the second mate;
and so it went turn and turn with them at meals--except that they had
some sort of dog-watch way about the Saturday night and Sunday
morning that always gave the mate his Sunday dinner with the captain,
as was the due of his rank.
The mate was a surly brute, and when Captain Chilton said, in quite a
formal way, "Mr. Roger Stetworth, let me make you acquainted with
Mr. George Hinds," he only grunted and gave me a sort of a nod. He
did not have much to say while the supper went on, speaking only
when the captain spoke to him, and then shortly; but from time to time
he snatched a mighty sharp look at me--that I pretended not to notice,
but saw well enough out of the tail of my eye. It was plain enough that
he was taking my measure, and I even fancied that he would have been
better pleased had I been six inches or so shorter and with less
well-made shoulders and arms. When he did speak it was in a growling
rumble of a voice, and he swore naturally.
Captain Luke evidently tried to make up for the mate's surliness; and he
really was very pleasant indeed--telling me stories about the Coast, and
giving me good advice about guarding against sickness there, and
showing such an interest in my prospects with the palm-oil people, and
in my welfare generally, that I was still more inclined to think that my
scare about the shackles was only foolishness from first to last. He
seemed to be really pleased when he found that I was not seasick, and
interested when I told him how well I knew the sea and the
management of small craft from my sailing in the waters about
Nantucket every summer for so many years; and then we got to talking
about the Coast again and about my outfit for it, which he said was a
very good one; and he especially commended me--instead of laughing
at me, as I was afraid he would--for having brought along such a lot of

quinine. Indeed, the quinine seemed to make a good deal of an
impression on him, for he turned to the mate and said: "Do you hear
that, George? Mr. Stetworth has with him a whole case of
quinine--enough to serve a ship's company through a cruise." And the
mate rumbled out, as he got up from the table and started for the deck,
that quinine was a damned good thing.
We waited below until the second mate came down, to whom the
captain introduced me with his regular formula: "Mr. Roger Stetworth,
let me make you acquainted with Mr. Martin Bowers." He was a young
fellow, of no more than my own age, and I took a fancy to him at
sight--for he not only shook my hand heartily but he looked me
squarely in the eyes, and that is a thing I like a man to do. It seemed to
me that my being there was a good deal of a puzzle to him; and he also
took my measure, but quite frankly--telling me when he had looked me
over that if I knew how to steer I'd be a good man to have at the wheel
in a gale.
The captain brought out a bottle of his favorite arrack, and he and I had
a