nt physical trim.

All traces of alcohol had long since vanished from the young man's
system. His face showed the effects of his enforced abstemiousness in
a marked degree. The red, puffy, blotchy complexion had given way to a
clear, tanned skin; bright eyes supplanted the bleary, bloodshot things
that had given the bestial expression to his face in the past. His
features, always regular and strong, had taken on a peculiarly refined
dignity from the salt air, the clean life, and the dangerous occupation
of the deep-sea sailor, that would have put Kelly's gang to a pinch to
have recognized their erstwhile crony had he suddenly appeared in their
midst in the alley back of the feed-store on Grand Avenue.

With the new life Billy found himself taking on a new character. He
surprised himself singing at his work--he whose whole life up to now had
been devoted to dodging honest labor--whose motto had been: The
world owes me a living, and it's up to me to collect it. Also, he was
surprised to discover that he liked to work, that he took keen pride in
striving to outdo the men who worked with him, and this spirit, despite
the suspicion which the captain entertained of Billy since the episode
of the forecastle, went far to making his life more endurable on board
the Halfmoon, for workers such as the mucker developed into are not to
be sneezed at, and though he had little idea of subordination it was
worth putting up with something to keep him in condition to work. It was
this line of reasoning that saved Billy's skull on one or two occasions
when his impudence had been sufficient to have provoked the skipper to
a personal assault upon him under ordinary conditions; and Mr. Ward,
having tasted of Billy's medicine once, had no craving for another
encounter with him that would entail personal conflict.

The entire crew was made up of ruffians and unhung murderers, but
Skipper Simms had had little experience with seamen of any other ilk,
so he handled them roughshod, using his horny fist, and the short, heavy
stick that he habitually carried, in lieu of argument; but with the
exception of Billy the men all had served before the mast in the past,
so that ship's discipline was to some extent ingrained in them all.

Enjoying his work, the life was not an unpleasant one for the mucker.
The men of the forecastle were of the kind he had always known--there
was no honor among them, no virtue, no kindliness, no decency. With them
Billy wa