re is one thing upon which I pride myself
more than another, it is the scrupulous cleanliness of my decks;
conceive, therefore, if you can, the extremity of my disgust and
annoyance when I saw Joe catch the naked toes of his right foot in the
corner of a hen-coop, and, in his agony, drop the pot of paint upon my
beautifully clean poop, of course spilling the whole contents. It is
true that, forgetting his pain the next moment, he dropped upon his
knees and contrived, by scooping up the spilled paint in the palms of
his hands, to replace a considerable proportion of it in the pot; but
after he had done his best with canvas and turpentine a horrible
unsightly blotch still remained to mar the hitherto immaculate purity of
the planks, and it is therefore not to be wondered at if I again
administered a sound and hearty rating to the culprit, this time in the
presence and hearing of all hands. It was all the more vexatious to me
that, instead of expressing any contrition for his carelessness, Joe
persistently maintained the surly demeanour he had exhibited more or
less throughout the day.

My anger, however, was short-lived, and by the time that I had had an
hour or two for reflection I could not help feeling that I had been
decidedly harsh and severe with the fellow for what was practically his
first offence; moreover, he had always hitherto behaved so exceedingly
well, and had proved himself such a splendid workman, that he had become
a great favourite with me. When, therefore, during dinner, Sir Edgar
made some half-jesting remark about Joe's misdeeds, I was far more
disposed to make excuses for the man than to maintain a semblance of
that annoyance I had so conspicuously exhibited during the day:
nevertheless, I deemed it politic to do the latter, particularly while
the steward was about; as I felt that, if the rest of the men were
indeed traitors, the steward was probably the same, and would, in any
case, be pretty certain to repeat in the forecastle whatever might be
said in the cabin as to Joe's misdemeanours.

It was Joe's trick at the wheel that night for the first half of the
first watch; but, as the passengers were about the deck during the whole
time, I made no attempt to enter into confidential communication with
him, and I had no other opportunity that night. On the following day
his misdeeds were not quite so egregious, but he still contrived to
behave like a man who considered himself aggrieved; and when