ur talk about not
drinking? You Anglo-Saxons are such dirty hypocrites."

"Indeed, no, sir,--it isn't me."

"Well, this cabin's in your care, and so is the storeroom. You keep a
watch-out and find out for me who it is.... I don't think its Miller or
the second mate ... it must be either the cook or that old rogue of a
sailmaker....

"Or it might be some of the crew," he further speculated, "but anyhow,
it's your job to take care of the cabin, as I said before....

"Remember this--all sailors are thieves, aboard ship, if the chance to
take anything good to eat or drink comes their way."

I promised to keep a good look-out.

On the other hand....

"Mind you keep your mouth shut ... and don't find things so damned
funny, neither," this from the first mate, early one morning, as I
scrubbed the floors. He stirred my posteriors heavily with a booted
foot, in emphasis.

* * * * *

The sea kicked backward in long, speedy trails of foam, lacing the
surface of a grey-green waste of waves....

* * * * *

When I had any spare time, I used to lie in the net under the bowsprit,
and read. From there I could look back on the entire ship as it sailed
ahead, every sail spread, a magnificent sight.

One day, as I lay there, reading Shelley, or was it my Vergil that I was
puzzling out line by line, with occasional glances at the great ship
seeming to sail into me--myself poised outward in space--

There came a great surge of water. I leaped up in the net, bouncing
like a circus acrobat. My book fell out of my hand into the sea.

I looked up, and saw fully half the crew grinning down at me. The mate
stood over me. A bucket that still dripped water in his hand showed me
where the water had come from.

"Come up out of there! The captain's been bawling for you for half an
hour ... we thought you'd gone overboard."

I came along the net, drenched and forlorn.

"What in hell were you doing down there?"

"I--I was thinking," I stammered.

"He was thinking," echoed the mate scornfully. "Well, thinking will
never make a sailor of you."

Boisterous laughter.

"After this do your thinking where we can find you when you're wanted."

As I walked aft, the mate went with me pace for pace, poking more fun at
me. To which I dared not answer, as I was impelled, because he was
strong and I was very frail ... and always, when on the verge of danger,
or a physical encoun