For shore
people, of course. People like you an' me, goin' to sea, don't get it.
But I think a man ought to improve himself and cultivate his mind. This
way up to the market.'

"I regarded Mr. Tonderbeg with a perfectly sincere respect. On board
ship his efficiency had been of that extreme kind which causes one to
lose sight altogether of the individual responsible for it. He had so
merged himself into the routine of the day that one had difficulty in
realizing his existence. And in the mood I was in that morning, a mood
of reckless emotional adventure, I found a certain wicked pleasure in
teasing him into a foolish loquacity. He was evidently very anxious to
talk to someone about his little friend. She corrected his mistakes in
English grammar, I learned, for he mournfully confessed to many errors
in writing. But what impressed me about him was the astounding
familiarity he seemed to have with his destiny. He knew that an old
friend, a retired sea-captain, would give him a job as assistant steward
in a certain 'home' for the indigent mariner. He knew that in time he
would become steward, which would provide a job for his wife. He saw
right on into his middle age. For all I know he knew just about when he
would die and where he would go afterward. And he was a good ten years
younger than I was! All mapped out! There seemed to be as much adventure
in the future for him as for a young and exemplary vegetable. He would
grow old, and the young person who had been afflicted with a splendid
education would grow old with him, immured in the discreet official
quarters of the home for indigent seamen. As if a seaman were ever
anything else but indigent! And when I suggested that a trifle more pay
for the seaman would render the home unnecessary he put his head on one
side and explained tolerantly that they 'would only spend it on booze.'

"'And better do that and die dead drunk than end up in a home,' I
muttered. He didn't hear me, I am glad to think now. I should have
regretted the slightest scratching of the immaculate surface of his
respectable equanimity. He was certainly thrown off his balance a few
moments later, and it is quite possible that had he heard my subversive
remark he might have abandoned me as hopeless. He maintained on the
voyage home the attitude of a deeply religious parent mourning for a
reprobate son, but not without hopes for his ultimate reclamation.

"I think our conversation ended there. I remember w