VI
Joel was below, in the cabin with Priss, when his brother boarded the ship. Varde and Dick Morrell had gone ashore for water and supplies, and Priss was to go that afternoon, with Joel. She was sewing a ribbon rosette upon the hat she would wear, when she and Joel heard the sound of excited voices, and the movement of feet on the deck above their head. He left her, curled up on the cushioned bench, with the gay ribbon in her hands, and went out through the main cabin, and up the companion. He had been trying, clumsily enough, to make friends with Priss; but she was very much on her dignity that morning....
When his head rose above the level of the cabin skylight, he saw a group of men near the rail, amidships. Finch, and Hooper, and old Aaron Burnham, and two of the harpooners, all pressing close about another man.... Finch obscured this other man from Joel’s view, until he climbed up on deck. Then he saw that the other man was his brother.
He went forward to join them; and it chanced that at first no one of them looked in his direction. Mark’s back was half-turned; but Joel could see that his brother was lean, and bronzed by the sun. And he wore no hat, and his thick, black hair was rumpled and wild. The white shirt that he wore was open at the throat above his brown neck. His arms were bare to the elbows. His chest was like a barrel. There was a splendor of strength and vigor about the man, in the very look of him, and in his eye, and his voice, and his laughter. He seemed to shine, like the sun....
Joel, as he came near them, heard Mark laugh throatily at something Finch had said; and he heard Finch say unctuously: “Be sure, Captain Shore, every man aboard here is damned glad you’ve come back to us. You were missed, missed sore, sir.”
Mark laughed again, at that; and he clapped Jim’s fat shoulder. The action swung him around so that he saw Joel for the first time. Joel thrust out his hand.
“Mark, man! They said you were dead,” he exclaimed.
Mark Shore’s eyes narrowed for an instant, in a quick, appraising scrutiny of his brother. “Dead?” he laughed, jeeringly. “Do I look dead?” He stared at Joel more closely, glanced at the other men, and chuckled. “By the Lord, kid,” he cried, “I believe old Asa has put you in my shoes.”