thumb; then, suddenly, he
reached out and clutched my wrist, and continued in a voice so charged
with pain and grief, that I was appalled.

"Ah'd do mos' anything foh de lady, but, Shreve, it ain't foh me, and
it ain't foh any of us forward to say what's goin' to happen in dis
ship. Ah ain't no sea-lawyer; man and boy Ah've gone to sea twenty
year, and Ah ain't nebber made no trouble in no ship, no suh. But, oh
mah Lawd, yoh knows what all's happened to me in dis ship! Dey won't
let me be a man. 'Yoh niggah, yoh black beast!' Dat's what dey calls
me, and dat's what dey makes me! Ah wants peace, yoh wants peace--but
does dey want peace? No, suh! Yoh say de ship peaceful now? Dis am a
debbil-ship, and dey's a king debbil aft! And dey's a shark overside,
and he wasn't waitin' foh what jus' went into the water, no, suh! Yoh
ebber sail out East? Yoh ebber see de quiet befoh a typhoon, so quiet
seems like yoh can't breathe? Dat's de kind ob peace dat's on de
_Golden Bough_. Ah don' want to make no trouble no time, but, oh mah
Lawd, when Ah does mah work right an' gets hazed foh it, when dat mate
makes a beast out ob me--does yoh think Ah stand dat fohebber?"

I had no answer of good cheer. What could I say? The man's wrongs
were too bitter, his hurts too constant, to be glossed over or soothed
by any words I could think of. For I knew he still had weeks of brutal
mistreatment ahead of him. This Nigger was a man who would not,
perhaps could not, cringe and whine--and so the mate was "breaking" him.

But after all Nigger gave me the promise I was after. "Ah nebber talks
trouble. Ah nebber wants trouble, and Ah nebber stirs up no trouble."

CHAPTER XV

The day following Nils' death was the most peaceful day we had had
since leaving port.

There was less cursing and driving from the men aft, and less wrangling
among ourselves. But it was a strange peace. An air of suspense lay
upon the ship; we went around on tiptoe, so to speak. The quiet before
the typhoon--aye, Nigger's phrase just about described it. We went
around telling each other that the trouble had blown over, and nothing
was going to happen, and all the time we were watching and waiting for
something--we didn't know just what--to happen.

During the morning, Mister Fitzgibbon and his bullies came swaggering
forward and into the port foc'sle. Now that was a moment that very
nearly saw the calm broken; for an instant I was sure there