The Chief was angry, “Say, Bervick, I thought you was going to fix that ventilator.”
“What’s the matter with it now, we ain’t rocking much.”
“Well, it’s leaking all over my engine, that’s what’s the matter. I thought Evans told you to get that fixed long time ago?”
“He certainly did. You heard him, too, I guess,” Bervick tried to irritate Duval.
“Damn it then, what’re you going to do, just stand there like a stupid bastard?”
Bervick frowned. “You watch what you say, Chief.”
“Who do you think you are telling me what I should say, anyhow?”
“Let’s take it easy,” said Hodges, remembering his superior rank and deciding that things were getting out of hand.
Bervick and the Chief ignored him. “I don’t want you calling me a bastard,” said Bervick. He enjoyed himself, fighting with Duval like this. Somehow Duval had begun to represent everything that he hated.
“I’ll call you anything I like when you sound off like that. You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you? Hanging around Evans all the time. You and he think you’re mighty superior to everybody else.”