er. He has been attempting
to curry favour and reinstate himself in the good graces of the captain
by carrying tales of the men forward. He it was, I know, that carried
some of Johnson's hasty talk to Wolf Larsen. Johnson, it seems, bought a
suit of oilskins from the slop-chest and found them to be of greatly
inferior quality. Nor was he slow in advertising the fact. The
slop-chest is a sort of miniature dry-goods store which is carried by all
sealing schooners and which is stocked with articles peculiar to the
needs of the sailors. Whatever a sailor purchases is taken from his
subsequent earnings on the sealing grounds; for, as it is with the
hunters so it is with the boat-pullers and steerers--in the place of
wages they receive a "lay," a rate of so much per skin for every skin
captured in their particular boat.

But of Johnson's grumbling at the slop-chest I knew nothing, so that what
I witnessed came with a shock of sudden surprise. I had just finished
sweeping the cabin, and had been inveigled by Wolf Larsen into a
discussion of Hamlet, his favourite Shakespearian character, when
Johansen descended the companion stairs followed by Johnson. The
latter's cap came off after the custom of the sea, and he stood
respectfully in the centre of the cabin, swaying heavily and uneasily to
the roll of the schooner and facing the captain.

"Shut the doors and draw the slide," Wolf Larsen said to me.

As I obeyed I noticed an anxious light come into Johnson's eyes, but I
did not dream of its cause. I did not dream of what was to occur until
it did occur, but he knew from the very first what was coming and awaited
it bravely. And in his action I found complete refutation of all Wolf
Larsen's materialism. The sailor Johnson was swayed by idea, by
principle, and truth, and sincerity. He was right, he knew he was right,
and he was unafraid. He would die for the right if needs be, he would be
true to himself, sincere with his soul. And in this was portrayed the
victory of the spirit over the flesh, the indomitability and moral
grandeur of the soul that knows no restriction and rises above time and
space and matter with a surety and invincibleness born of nothing else
than eternity and immortality.

But to return. I noticed the anxious light in Johnson's eyes, but
mistook it for the native shyness and embarrassment of the man. The
mate, Johansen, stood away several feet to the side of him, and fully
three yards in