g into the spare state-room,
but to be silent about it lest he disturb the captain. And now,
monsieur, permit me to bid you good-night. I trust you will rest well."

The man Thoreau, who seemed to be an individual of exceedingly glum and
taciturn disposition, thereupon signed to me to follow him, and led the
way down the poop ladder and through an open door in the front of the
poop which gave access to a narrow passage, some eight feet long, at the
end of which was another open door giving access to the ship's main
cabin. This was a fairly roomy and comfortable apartment, plainly but
tastefully fitted up, with a mahogany table running lengthwise down the
middle, through the centre of which the mizenmast passed down to the
depths below. A row of seats upholstered in red Utrecht velvet, and
with swinging backs, was secured, on each side of the table, to the
deck, between which and the sides of the cabin ran narrow strips of
carpet. The sides and ends of the cabin were formed of bulkheads, the
fore bulkhead being occupied by a sort of sideboard on each side of the
entrance door, while against the after bulkhead stood a very handsome
pianoforte, open, with a quantity of music in a stand beside it. There
was a door to the right of the piano, which, I conjectured, led to the
captain's state-room, right abaft; and the side bulkheads, which like
the rest of the woodwork of the cabin were painted in white enamel, were
each pierced by two doors, close together, which, I had no doubt, gave
access to state-rooms. My surmise as to this arrangement was proved
true, a few minutes later, by the steward, an ugly, shock-headed,
taciturn individual, who, still more than half asleep, presently came
stumbling into the cabin with a bundle of bedding, which, having with
silent care opened the aftermost door on the port side, he flung into
the dark state-room and then motioned me to enter; it appeared that he
intended me to make up my own bed. Well, that was no very great
hardship; but I should have liked a light to enable me to see what I was
about, and I turned to ask my surly friend for one, but he had already
turned his back upon me and was in full retreat to the forecastle to
finish his interrupted night's rest. I therefore opened out the bundle
and found that it consisted of a straw mattress, a flock pillow, and a
pair of blankets, all of which I at once proceeded to arrange in the
bunk, as best I could, by the dim light which en