Letting the Canoe jump a Rapid.
It was too bad that Alcides—one of the bravest of men—should possess such a mean mind and such an ungrateful nature. Twice I had saved his life when he came within an ace of perishing in dangerous rapids, but never had he given thanks to me—never had he shown the slightest sign of recognition. Never, during the entire time he was in my employ, did he—or any of my other men—say "Good morning" to me when we rose, or "Good night" when we retired to sleep. Two or three nights before this last adventure, during a heavy rainstorm, I had deprived myself of my own tent in order to shelter him and the other men, while I myself got drenched.
"He only does it," said he, "because he needs to keep us alive to do the work, or else he would not do it."
I only received offensive words for any kindnesses I showered on him and the others.
It is seldom one could find a man with a more unpractical mind. He spent most of his energy working uselessly—and, mind you, very hard indeed—for nothing, but he could never be made to apply his strength in a sensible way. If I asked him to cut me a tooth-pick, he would proceed to cut down one of the largest trees in the neighbourhood and work for an hour or two until he had reduced a big section of it into the needed article. He wasted hours daily, and ruined all our axes and cutlery into the bargain, in scraping flat surfaces on rocks and on the hardest trees, on which he subsequently engraved his name and that of his lady-love whom he had left behind. He was really marvellous at calligraphy, and could certainly write the best hand of any man I have ever known.
He quarrelled all the time with all the other men, and to enforce his words was constantly producing his automatic pistol fully loaded or else his rifle.
When I first employed him I had the misfortune to send him on some messages to two or three people, with the result that those former friends became my bitterest enemies, as he had insulted them. He was one of the men who cannot open their mouths without offending. Wasteful to an incredible degree, his only ambition was to show how much he could spend—especially when he was spending other people's money—a most trying thing for me when we were, months before, near any shop. When you mentioned anything to him he immediately said that it was impossible to do it, no matter how simple the matter was. He spent hours looking at himself in a small pocket mirror he carried on his person, and would grumble for long hours over the stings of mosquitoes and gnats which had dared to spoil his features. He used violent language against the impudent rocks which had injured his feet.
His brutality to men and beasts alike was most hurtful to me. He once abandoned his favourite dog on an island, simply because he had kicked it viciously the day before and the dog would not respond to his calls and enter the canoe. He now proposed to kill the other dogs, as he said they had finished their work as watch-dogs, since we never came across any Indians, and it was no use taking them along.