He cast a cautious look round: ‘There’s but one man to be regularly afeerd of, and that’s Mr. Lush. I believe he’d knife the capt’n right off if so be as he could be sure we men wouldn’t round upon him. I don’t mean to say he han’t got cause to hate the capt’n. He’s a working man without knowledge of perlite customs, and I believe the capt’n’s said more to him than he ought to have said; more than any gen’leman would have dreamt of saying, and all because this here carpenter han’t got the art o’ dining in a way to please the eye. But this here Mr. Lush feels it too much: he’s allowed it to eat into his mind; and if so be there should come a difficulty, the capt’n wouldn’t find a friend in him, and so I tells ye, sir. I don’t want to say more n’s necessary and proper to this here occasion of your questions; but though the crew’s a desperate ignorant one, ne’er a man among ’em capable of writing or spelling any more’n the carpenter hisself, there’s only him to be afeerd of, so far as I’m capable of disarning; though, of course, if he should tarn to and try and work up their feelings, there’s naturally no telling how the sailors ’ud show.’
‘They seem a pretty smart set of fellows,’ said I, finding but little comfort to be got out of this long-winded delivery; ‘the ship is beautifully clean, and everything looks to be going straight aboard of you.’
‘Oh! every man can do his bit,’ he answered; ‘but if I was you, sir, being in charge, as you are, of a beautiful young lady, for the likes of which this here little barque, with nothen but men aboard and such shabby food as goes aft, is no proper place—if I was you, I says, says I, I’d get away as soon as ever I could.’
I mentally bestowed a few sea-blessings on the head of this marine Job’s comforter, but contrived, nevertheless, to look as though I was much obliged to him for his information and advice; and after we had continued discoursing on a variety of nautical topics for some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour longer, I proceeded aft, and spent the rest of the evening in conversing with Miss Temple in the cabin or in walking the deck with her.
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME
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Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.