why does Momma pay so much attention to what the Britisher
says? I guess I don't like it--and I don't like him, either. I am
going to speak to her about it. Who is he, that he is to be consulted
before Kennedy and Briscoe? They're Amuricans, while he is only a
Britisher, and they've been to sea longer than he has; and anyway, an
Amurican is a darn sight better than a Britisher any day."

"Yes, I guess you are right, Ju," replied the young lady; "only you need
not allow your dislike to betray you into vulgarity. I hate Englishmen,
but I do not find it necessary to use the word `darn', and I wish you
wouldn't; it is only common, vulgar people who use it. And I wouldn't
speak to Momma either, if I were you; it is not worth while. Momma
thinks the man is clever, but, of course, he isn't, and she will find it
out sooner or later."

So that was it! I had often wondered at the attitude of latent
hostility of these two youngsters toward me; and now I understood. They
hated Englishmen! Well, their hatred did not trouble me in the least;
it was passive, or at all events was only so far active as to prompt
them now and then to make offensive remarks in my hearing, and taking
into consideration who and what they were, I could put up with a good
deal of that. But it had the effect of putting me upon my mettle. I
was determined to prove to them that they were mistaken in their
estimate of Englishmen, not because I attached any value personally to
their good or bad opinion, but because eventually they would be man and
woman, if they lived, and, from the position which their wealth would
give them, would have the power of influencing the opinion of their
fellow countrymen to a certain limited extent. I felt that it was my
duty to do what I could to lessen the unreasoning dislike of my fellow
countrymen which I had noticed in so many Americans.

It was at this time a dead calm, with a very heavy, confused swell
running, so that the only sounds heard, apart from our own voices, were
the wash and gurgle of the water alongside, as the ship wallowed
uneasily, the loud rustle and flap of the canvas aloft, and the creaking
of the spars. Moreover, it was intensely dark--to such an extent indeed
that I found it impossible to superintend operations from the deck.
Presently, therefore, I sprang into the mizen rigging and made my way
aloft to the mizen topmast crosstrees, from which I directed the
operation of sending down the roy