"Ah! then you are sawing off your own nose—are you?"
"For the general good, I am."
"Noble, self-sacrificing creature! Receive the homage of a humble admirer."
"You, or any other fellow in the steerage, may become a master, purser, or midshipman, by your merit, and then you may be captain, or a lieutenant, the next month."
"But I shall have to wait a whole month before I can reach the summit of my lofty ambition. That's too long to wait."
"I ask you to go with us for the public good."
"Pro bono publico! There you touch me where I am weak. For the public good I would sacrifice this poor body to gout and dyspepsia. I would eat grand dinners, as the aldermen do, at the public expense; I would accept any fat office in which I had nothing to do but draw my salary; I would be governor or president, and receive the homage of the people, for the public good. There's my weak point."
"You know Cantwell?"
"Do I know him! Do I not know him? Am I unacquainted with the blooming youth who thinks he must wind up the universe every morning, or something will break before night? Ought not the deck to be carpeted when he walks upon it? Ought we not to have a guard of marines to present arms to him when he appears in the waist? Haven't I worn out three caps in saluting him?"
"You understand him, then?"