white blood in him. He was a tall man, and well-made though
inclined to stoutness, but much darker than is usual in Hawaii. He was
no longer young, and his crisply curling, thick hair was grey. His upper
front teeth were cased in gold. He was very proud of them. He had a
marked squint and this gave him a saturnine expression. The captain, who
was fond of a joke, found in it a constant source of humour and
hesitated the less to rally him on the defect because he realised that
the mate was sensitive about it. Bananas, unlike most of the natives,
was a taciturn fellow and Captain Butler would have disliked him if it
had been possible for a man of his good nature to dislike anyone. He
liked to be at sea with someone he could talk to, he was a chatty,
sociable creature, and it was enough to drive a missionary to drink to
live there day after day with a chap who never opened his mouth. He did
his best to wake the mate up, that is to say, he chaffed him without
mercy, but it was poor fun to laugh by oneself, and he came to the
conclusion that, drunk or sober, Bananas was no fit companion for a
white man. But he was a good seaman and the captain was shrewd enough to
know the value of a mate he could trust. It was not rare for him to come
aboard, when they were sailing, fit for nothing but to fall into his
bunk, and it was worth something to know that he could stay there till
he had slept his liquor off, since Bananas could be relied on. But he
was an unsociable devil, and it would be a treat to have someone he
could talk to. That girl would be fine. Besides, he wouldn't be so
likely to get drunk when he went ashore if he knew there was a little
girl waiting for him when he came on board again.

He went to his friend the chandler and over a peg of gin asked him for a
loan. There were one or two useful things a ship's captain could do for
a ship's chandler, and after a quarter of an hour's conversation in low
tones (there is no object in letting all and sundry know your business),
the captain crammed a wad of notes in his hip-pocket, and that night,
when he went back to his ship, the girl went with him.

What Captain Butler, seeking for reasons to do what he had already made
up his mind to, had anticipated, actually came to pass. He did not give
up drinking, but he ceased to drink to excess. An evening with the
boys, when he had been away from town two or three weeks, was pleasant
enough, but it was pleasant too to get back to h