* * *

"Yes," sighed the cook, "I wish it had been Franz instead of Gottlieb.
Gottlieb was such a fine fellow, and Franz is such a son of a----."

* * * * *

... I have left something out.

At the beginning of the voyage Captain Schantze housed a flock of two
dozen chickens in a coop under the forecastle ... in order to insure
himself of fresh eggs during the voyage....

And for fresh meat, he had a huge sow hauled aboard--to be killed later
on....

* * * * *

One morning, when I went forward to fetch the captain's and mates'
breakfast, I found the cook all white and ghastly....

"What's the matter, Cook?"

"To-day's the day I've got to butcher the sow," he complained, "and I'd
give anything to have someone else do it ... I've made such a pet of her
during the voyage ... and she's so intelligent and affectionate ...
she's decenter than lots of human beings I've met."

I kept to the cabin while the butchering was going on.

The cook, the next day, with tears streaming down his face, told me how
trusting the sow had been to the last moment....

"I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she realised what I had
done to her when I cut her throat."

"And I'll never be able to eat any of her. I'd throw it up as fast as it
went down ... much as I do like good, fresh pork."

* * * * *

The ship-boys, Karl and Albert, always stole the eggs, the captain was
sure, as soon as they were laid, though he was never able to catch them
at it.

"Run," he would shout hurriedly to me, "there! I hear the hens cackling.
They've laid an egg."

I'd run. But there'd be no egg. Someone would have reached the nest,
from the forecastle, before I did.

Because the eggs were always stolen as soon as laid, the captain decreed
the slaughter of the hens, too ... not a rooster among them ... the hens
were frankly unhappy, because of this....

* * * * *

The last hen was to be slain. Pursued, she flew far out over the still
ocean. Further and further she flew, keeping up her heavy body as if by
an effort of will.

"Come back! Don't be such a damn fool!" I shouted in my excitement.

Everybody was watching when the chicken would light ... how long it
could keep up....

As soon as I shouted "come back!" the bird, as if giving heed to my
exhortation, slowly veered, and turned toward the ship