Then, laughing, he seized me by the ear—his usual gesture of fondness for me—
"Remember me if you ever write a book about this voyage, and don't give me too black a name! I'm not so bad, am I, eh?"
The Australian coast had lain blue across the horizon for several days.
"Watch me to-morrow!" whispered Franz cryptically to me as he strolled lazily by....
Next day, around noon, I heard a big rumpus on the main deck, I hurried up from the cabin.
There lay Franz, sprawled on his back like a huge, lazy dog, and the mate was shaking his belly with his foot on top of it, just as one plays with a dog ... but to show he was not playing, he delivered the prostrate form of the sailor a swift succession of kicks in the ribs....
"You won't work any longer, you say?"
"No."
"I'll kick your guts out."