p! You've got spunk, as
you Yanks s'y, an' I like yer in a w'y. So come on an' shyke."

Coward that I might be, I was less a coward than he. It was a distinct
victory I had gained, and I refused to forego any of it by shaking his
detestable hand.

"All right," he said pridelessly, "tyke it or leave it, I'll like yer
none the less for it." And to save his face he turned fiercely upon the
onlookers. "Get outa my galley-doors, you bloomin' swabs!"

This command was reinforced by a steaming kettle of water, and at sight
of it the sailors scrambled out of the way. This was a sort of victory
for Thomas Mugridge, and enabled him to accept more gracefully the defeat
I had given him, though, of course, he was too discreet to attempt to
drive the hunters away.

"I see Cooky's finish," I heard Smoke say to Horner.

"You bet," was the reply. "Hump runs the galley from now on, and Cooky
pulls in his horns."

Mugridge heard and shot a swift glance at me, but I gave no sign that the
conversation had reached me. I had not thought my victory was so
far-reaching and complete, but I resolved to let go nothing I had gained.
As the days went by, Smoke's prophecy was verified. The Cockney became
more humble and slavish to me than even to Wolf Larsen. I mistered him
and sirred him no longer, washed no more greasy pots, and peeled no more
potatoes. I did my own work, and my own work only, and when and in what
fashion I saw fit. Also I carried the dirk in a sheath at my hip,
sailor-fashion, and maintained toward Thomas Mugridge a constant attitude
which was composed of equal parts of domineering, insult, and contempt.

CHAPTER X

My intimacy with Wolf Larsen increases--if by intimacy may be denoted
those relations which exist between master and man, or, better yet,
between king and jester. I am to him no more than a toy, and he values
me no more than a child values a toy. My function is to amuse, and so
long as I amuse all goes well; but let him become bored, or let him have
one of his black moods come upon him, and at once I am relegated from
cabin table to galley, while, at the same time, I am fortunate to escape
with my life and a whole body.

The loneliness of the man is slowly being borne in upon me. There is not
a man aboard but hates or fears him, nor is there a man whom he does not
despise. He seems consuming with the tremendous power that is in him and
that seems never to have found adequate expression