s
that came clean from Lynch's lips, sounded vile from Fitzgibbon,
because the man, himself, was bad through and through. His oaths were
the oaths of a slave-driver to the slave, and they bespoke cruelty.

But the curses of Captain Swope! God keep me from ever hearing their
like again. They sounded worse than harsh, or vile, they sounded
inhuman. The words came soft and melodious from his lips, but they
were forked with poison and viciousness. As we of the foc'sle listened
to him curse the helmsman, that first morning out, each man felt fear's
icy finger touch the pit of his stomach. The captain's words horrified
us, they sounded so utterly evil, and foretold so plainly the suffering
that was to come to us.

He suddenly cut short his cursing, and turning, caught sight of us, men
and mates, standing idle by the main fife rail. "What's this,
Misters?" he sang out. "Going asleep on the job? Rush those
dogs--rush them! And send a man aft to the wheel--a sailorman! This
damned Dutchman does not know how to steer!"

Those evenly spoken words aroused us to a very frenzy of effort.
Fitzgibbon struck out blindly at the man nearest him, and commenced to
curse us in a steady stream. Lynch reached out and dragged me away
from the line on which I was heaving. "Aft with you!" he ordered me.
"Take the wheel--lively, now!"

Lively it was. I ran along the lee deck towards the poop, my belly
griped by the knowledge that the black-bearded man was watching my
progress. Nineteen-year-old man I might be, able seaman and hard case,
but I'll admit I was afraid. I was afraid of that sinister figure on
the poop, afraid of the soft voice that cursed so horribly.

It was a little squarehead who had the wheel. A young Scandinavian, an
undersized, scrawny boy. He was pallid, and glazy-eyed with terror, as
well he might be after facing the Old Man's tirade, and when I took the
spokes from his nerveless grasp he had not sufficient wit left to give
me the course. Indeed, he had not much chance to speak, for Captain
Swope had followed me aft, and as soon as I had the wheel he commenced
on the luckless youth.

"You didn't watch her, did you? Now I'll show you what happens in my
ship when a man goes to sleep on his job!" he purred. _Purred_--aye,
that is the word. Through his beard I could see the tip of his tongue
rimming his lips, as he contemplated the frightened boy, much like a
cat contemplating a choice morsel about to b