Evans was not a bit singular in his illusions, any
more than Captain Macedoine was in his. They believed in them a bit
longer than you young fellows do nowadays, that's all."

"Well, go on," suggested the Doctor, and moved out of the moonlight into
the shadow, so that Mr. Spenlove remained alone and appeared to be
talking to himself.

"Of course, so far, I hadn't seen any of the party save Jack.
I'd been ashore when they arrived--did I say we were in
Middlesborough-on-Tees?--for I had friends at Stockton. I was really
concerned, for knowing what a headlong, forthright fool Jack was, I
expected to do or say something that might spoil his life's happiness.
And here he was complicating matters ten-fold by bringing a nurse-girl,
a 'governess.' And while I sat there pondering upon the possibilities,
the Mate came up with an expression of immense cunning on his face, his
hand funnelled round his mouth, and whispered 'Seen 'em, Mister?'

"I shook my head. Mr. Bloom, Basil Bloom, had been only a couple of
trips with us, and I knew Jack had very little use for him. Mr. Bloom,
indeed, was one of those extraordinary men who go to sea year after
year, and not only do they never seem to attain to any decent mastery of
their profession, but in their speech and manner and appearance they
resemble piano-tuners or billiard-markers more than sailors. Bloom had a
moustache like an Italian hair-dresser's, immense, fine, full, and
silky, with moist red lips eternally parting and showing a set of
perfect false teeth. His papers were miracles of eulogy, his discharges,
save that he had been in a good many ships, without blemish. And yet
from the moment he had come jauntily on board the previous voyage, Jack
had been straining like a terrier on the leash. Mr. Bloom seemed to do
nothing right. It had been my lot to hear both sides of the question.
Jack, over a whiskey-and-soda in my room, would bewail his fate at
having an agricultural labourer sent him as chief officer; and next day,
Mr. Bloom, bringing me the position and distance run, would twirl his
moustache and allude to the amazingly incompetent persons who secured
commands nowadays. Of course I sided with Jack. Mr. Bloom was nothing to
me. He was the sort of man I would much rather hit in the face than
shake hands with. The man didn't _look_ like a sailor. He had no
sea-going gear. Jack nearly had a seizure on my settee when he told me
the new Mate was patrolling the bridge in red si