cture it to yourself: a man of ordinary
stature, slender of build, and with weak, undeveloped muscles, who has
lived a peaceful, placid life, and is unused to violence of any
sort--what could such a man possibly do? There was no more reason that I
should stand and face these human beasts than that I should stand and
face an infuriated bull.

So I thought it out at the time, feeling the need for vindication and
desiring to be at peace with my conscience. But this vindication did not
satisfy. Nor, to this day can I permit my manhood to look back upon
those events and feel entirely exonerated. The situation was something
that really exceeded rational formulas for conduct and demanded more than
the cold conclusions of reason. When viewed in the light of formal
logic, there is not one thing of which to be ashamed; but nevertheless a
shame rises within me at the recollection, and in the pride of my manhood
I feel that my manhood has in unaccountable ways been smirched and
sullied.

All of which is neither here nor there. The speed with which I ran from
the galley caused excruciating pain in my knee, and I sank down
helplessly at the break of the poop. But the Cockney had not pursued me.

"Look at 'im run! Look at 'im run!" I could hear him crying. "An' with
a gyme leg at that! Come on back, you pore little mamma's darling. I
won't 'it yer; no, I won't."

I came back and went on with my work; and here the episode ended for the
time, though further developments were yet to take place. I set the
breakfast-table in the cabin, and at seven o'clock waited on the hunters
and officers. The storm had evidently broken during the night, though a
huge sea was still running and a stiff wind blowing. Sail had been made
in the early watches, so that the _Ghost_ was racing along under
everything except the two topsails and the flying jib. These three
sails, I gathered from the conversation, were to be set immediately after
breakfast. I learned, also, that Wolf Larsen was anxious to make the
most of the storm, which was driving him to the south-west into that
portion of the sea where he expected to pick up with the north-east
trades. It was before this steady wind that he hoped to make the major
portion of the run to Japan, curving south into the tropics and north
again as he approached the coast of Asia.

After breakfast I had another unenviable experience. When I had finished
washing the dishes, I cleaned the cabin st