e the next
thing to try for if we got that?" He answered readily with contemptuous
certitude; he strutted with assurance in clothes that were much too big
for him as though he had tried to disguise himself. These were Jimmy's
clothes mostly--though he would accept anything from anybody; but
nobody, except Jimmy, had anything to spare. His devotion to Jimmy was
unbounded. He was for ever dodging in the little cabin, ministering
to Jimmy's wants, humouring his whims, submitting to his exacting
peevishness, often laughing with him. Nothing could keep him away from
the pious work of visiting the sick, especially when there was some
heavy hauling to be done on deck. Mr. Baker had on two occasions jerked
him out from there by the scruff of the neck to our inexpressible
scandal. Was a sick chap to be left without attendance? Were we to be
ill-used for attending a shipmate?--"What?" growled Mr. Baker, turning
menacingly at the mutter, and the whole half-circle like one man stepped
back a pace. "Set the topmast stunsail. Away aloft, Donkin, overhaul
the gear," ordered the mate inflexibly. "Fetch the sail along; bend the
down-haul clear. Bear a hand." Then, the sail set, he would go slowly
aft and stand looking at the compass for a long time, careworn, pensive,
and breathing hard as if stifled by the taint of unaccountable ill-will
that pervaded the ship. "What's up amongst them?" he thought. "Can't
make out this hanging back and growling. A good crowd, too, as they go
nowadays." On deck the men exchanged bitter words, suggested by a silly
exasperation against something unjust and irremediable that would not be
denied, and would whisper into their ears long after Donkin had ceased
speaking. Our little world went on its curved and unswerving path
carrying a discontented and aspiring population. They found comfort of
a gloomy kind in an interminable and conscientious analysis of their
unappreciated worth; and inspired by Donkin's hopeful doctrines they
dreamed enthusiastically of the time when every lonely ship would travel
over a serene sea, manned by a wealthy and well-fed crew of satisfied
skippers.

It looked-as if it would be a long passage. The south-east trades, light
and unsteady, were left behind; and then, on the equator and under a
low grey sky, the ship, in close heat, floated upon a smooth sea that
resembled a sheet of ground glass. Thunder squalls hung on the horizon,
circled round the ship, far off and growling angri