insufferably condescending
and impertinent, or ineffably tired,--who could tell which?

I found him leaning against the taffrail, his languid graceful figure
supported by his elbows, his chin propped against his hand. As I
approached the binnacle, he raised his eyes and motioned me to him. The
insolence of it was so superb that for a moment I was angry enough to
ignore him. Then I reflected that I was here, not to stand on my personal
dignity, but to get information. I joined him.

"You are the mate?" he drawled.

"Since I am on the quarter-deck," I snapped back at him.

He eyed me thoughtfully, while he rolled with one hand a corn-husk
Mexican cigarette.

"Do you know where you are going?" he inquired at length.

"Depends on the moral character of my future actions," I rejoined tartly.

He allowed a smile to break and fade, then lighted his cigarette.

"The first mate seems to have a remarkable command of language," said he.

I did not reply.

"Well, to tell you the truth I don't know where we are going," he
continued. "Thought you might be able to inform me. Where did this ship
and its precious gang of cutthroats come from, anyway?"

"Meaning me?"

"Oh, meaning you too, for all I know," he shrugged wearily. Suddenly he
turned to me and laid his hand on my shoulder with one of those sudden
bursts of confidence I came later to recognise and look for, but in which
I could never quite believe--nor disbelieve.

"I am eaten with curiosity," he stated in the least curious voice in the
world. "I suppose you know who his Nibs is?"

"Dr. Schermerhorn, do you mean?"

"Yes. Well, I've been with him ten years. I am his right-hand man. All
his business I transact down to the last penny. I even order his meals.
His discoveries have taken shape in my hands. Suddenly he gets a freak.
He will go on a voyage. Where? I shall know in good time. For how long? I
shall know in good time. For what purpose? Same answer. What
accommodations shall I engage? I experience the worst shock of my
life;--he will engage them himself. What scientific apparatus? Shock
number two;--he will attend to that. Is there anything I can do? What do
you suppose he says?"

"How should I know?" I asked.

"You should know in the course of intelligent conversation with me," he
drawled. "Well, he, good old staid Schermie with the vertebrated thoughts
gets kittenish. He says to me, 'Joost imachin, Percy, you are
all-alone-on-a-desert-island placed;