lapse, he could not altogether subdue it; and
so, exerting his good-nature to the utmost, insensibly he came to a
compromise.

Yes, this is a strange craft; a strange history, too, and strange folks
on board. But--nothing more.

By way of keeping his mind out of mischief till the boat should arrive,
he tried to occupy it with turning over and over, in a purely
speculative sort of way, some lesser peculiarities of the captain and
crew. Among others, four curious points recurred:

First, the affair of the Spanish lad assailed with a knife by the slave
boy; an act winked at by Don Benito. Second, the tyranny in Don Benito's
treatment of Atufal, the black; as if a child should lead a bull of the
Nile by the ring in his nose. Third, the trampling of the sailor by the
two negroes; a piece of insolence passed over without so much as a
reprimand. Fourth, the cringing submission to their master, of all the
ship's underlings, mostly blacks; as if by the least inadvertence they
feared to draw down his despotic displeasure.

Coupling these points, they seemed somewhat contradictory. But what
then, thought Captain Delano, glancing towards his now nearing
boat--what then? Why, Don Benito is a very capricious commander. But he
is not the first of the sort I have seen; though it's true he rather
exceeds any other. But as a nation--continued he in his reveries--these
Spaniards are all an odd set; the very word Spaniard has a curious,
conspirator, Guy-Fawkish twang to it. And yet, I dare say, Spaniards in
the main are as good folks as any in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Ah good!
last "Rover" has come.

As, with its welcome freight, the boat touched the side, the
oakum-pickers, with venerable gestures, sought to restrain the blacks,
who, at the sight of three gurried water-casks in its bottom, and a pile
of wilted pumpkins in its bow, hung over the bulwarks in disorderly
raptured.

Don Benito, with his servant, now appeared; his coming, perhaps,
hastened by hearing the noise. Of him Captain Delano sought permission
to serve out the water, so that all might share alike, and none injure
themselves by unfair excess. But sensible, and, on Don Benito's account,
kind as this offer was, it was received with what seemed impatience; as
if aware that he lacked energy as a commander, Don Benito, with the true
jealousy of weakness, resented as an affront any interference. So, at
least, Captain Delano inferred.

In another moment the casks were be