Morgan Robertson

“ Never hesitate to strike if they are ugly, and, when they work well, praise them."
"How about Spencer? How shall I put fear into him?"
"He'll be in my watch. You will have Haeckel, Darwin, and Tyndall."
"How about Spencer, when all hands are up? I must be among them all."
"He's just a little ugly lately, but'll get over it. I'll bring him around myself. Only, don't pick a row with him."
"No fear, captain. And will you tell me how the last mate was killed, so that I'll know more about what not to do." ”

“ But the crew were paying no attention to their supper; they were creeping around the big box amidships, sniffling, grinning, and growling, and, as the captain brushed past them on his way toward me, three of them followed menacingly a few feet.
"What are you saying to my girl?" he bellowed, as he approached. "Didn't I tell you to let her alone?"
"Captain Bruggles," I answered, raising my hand-spike, "don't lay hands on me again. I won't have it. If you were not so drunk you'd not think it necessary. We'll have our hands full with the crew to-night. ”

“ When up to its place we nippered the halyards at the block and they stopped pulling and belayed. All up-and-down running rigging led through leading-blocks on deck, so that they could use their immense strength rather than their mere weight. Two could sheet home and hoist a topgallant-sail, one could set a royal, and, when it came to stowing the anchor Haeckel and Spencer did it—by hand. ”

“ The roaring and growling from within and the answers of the crew were unmistakable evidence. We stowed it on the main-hatch again, but left the boards on for the present, while Captain Bruggles clubbed his agitated pets down the fore-hatch and covered them.
"It's a female of their breed," he remarked to me; "and we'll have to keep her closed for a while, until they're used to her presence."
Another cage had come off with this last load, which the captain opened on deck, disclosing a four-foot snake of species unknown to me, but possessing the triangular head of all poisonous serpents. ”

“ Hanging by one paw as often as two or more, they swung about the stay, tangling themselves in the staysail halyards, striking, kicking, and biting, until one, with a human cry of agony, let go and fell, head downward. ”

“ His mood had changed; he seemed to have completely forgotten our quarrel, and this alone prevented me from going overboard to seek aid for Jessie on shore.
"Ain't it fun?" he chuckled, before he had reached the mainmast. "Ain't she a beauty, and ain't they all in love? Let's turn her loose. Come on." He turned back.
"Captain Bruggles," I called, running after him, "I beg of you not to. You will never get them under control again. Take my advice and box up that cage again—or I'll do it, and you keep the rest back." ”

“ Spencer. Put out, put out, put out," ordered the captain. The pot was not heated yet, and Spencer arose, tilted it, and deluged the flames. Then he was patted on the head, and praised—in which ceremony I, perforce, did my share.
"He can light a fire all right," said Captain Bruggles, as we walked aft; "but when he burns himself he is apt to knock the whole business overboard. Then, too, he must get used to the water." ”

“ This is my crew. I've trained 'em from babies. They're not able-seamen yet—that is, they can't paint and scrape and splice like a man; but they can do twenty men's work shortening sail, and cost me nothing in wages and very little in grub. But, I admit, I can't keep a mate; and there's no good reason for it, either. All it needs is a little nerve and common sense and firmness, and a mate'll have no trouble with 'em. I think you're the man for me. You'll only have to cook their mush for 'em once a day, and give 'em orders same as I do. My daughter cooks for the cabin. ”

“ I looked aft, and in the gathering light made out the headless body of Captain Bruggles alongside the mizzen-hatch, and knew then what had passed over my head early in the night.
"Don't look, Jessie!" I called. "Go below, and some of the natives may come out. They must have heard the noise."
"I loosed the snake, Rob, when father told me to, and then I fainted, I think. What has happened?"
"They've killed one another—all but Spencer and the female. Don't come on deck. Some one will be off soon from shore." ”

“ When he had made a pile he carried it to the pot and arranged it carefully underneath. Then he disappeared down the fore-hatch and returned with a flint-and-steel and a piece of tinder.
"Spencer," said the captain, gently, "water, water."
The ape arose, grinned ever so slightly, secured a draw-bucket and drew a bucketful from over the side. This he poured in the pot.
"He don't like the touch of water," said the captain. "When he can handle it cheerfully, I'll give him fresh water and teach him to stir the mush." ”

“ Spencer is the oldest, and has one privilege over the others—he gets his mush in a separate kid, a habit he formed when he was alone with me. You must remember to give him his share before you serve the others. The last mate forgot it. ”

“ What manner of man is this father of yours, anyway, to condemn a girl like you to this?"
"He is a man without human sympathy," she said, lifting her tear-stained face. "He left me at home when I was little, but paid my way; and six months ago he sent me passage-money and instructions to join him at St. Louis on the Senegal, He cannot understand fear—he has never felt it; he boasts that he can conquer any wild beast in the world with his hands, and wonders why others are afraid. ”

“ A little nervously, while the huge brutes forward watched me, I stepped amidships and secured the handspikes; he took one from me, leaving me the other, and told me to stand beside him on the hatch.
"You're to give each one in his turn a thump on the head after I hit him. Strike about as hard as you'd hit a nail with a hammer; it won't hurt 'em." ”

“ There's no danger, and you mustn't hit one unless he deserves it. That only spoils 'em."
He climbed up and stepped inboard. I cautiously followed, but remained on the side steps while I inspected the deck. The big brute who had taken the painter had belayed it, and was slouching forward, looking back at Captain Bruggles, who had seated himself on the mizzen-hatch. Squatted on deck forward and crouching over the windlass were four others of the ungainly beasts, and in a strong iron cage amidships was a sixth, undoubtedly the hungry one, for he shook his bars and bellowed at us. ”

“ I was a large, heavy man myself, and had borne myself well in a great many rough-and-tumble fights, but I had never fought an orang-outang, and the sight of those half-dozen monsters lumbering toward me was weakening. ”

“ Sometimes, too, when their natural intelligence don't tell 'em what rope to pull you may have to put it into their hands. On a dark night a topgallant buntline is the same to them as a topsail buntline. Of course, it delays matters a little, but I make it a point to begin shortening sail early."
He led me below, where I signed his articles at the bottom of a long list of "mates," and received an outfit from his slop-chest; then he showed me my room. Spencer's bucket, and the bin of meal for the making of mush. ”

“ The female turned her back to the heat and would have descended, but I remonstrated with the dead snake and persuaded her to remain where she was.
"Jessie!" I called. "Jessie! come out now—quick!"
She showed herself at the door and answered me.
"Come out, and slip the bar—quick! It's all safe now. Spencer can't get aft, and this one is afraid of the snake. There's no danger now, only from the fire."
She opened the grating and came out of the cabin, looked at each dead body on the deck, and crept forward to the cage. ”

“ Meanwhile an uproar on deck had called the captain away from us, and when I had eaten enough to be able to speak between mouthfuls, she said:
"You must not go in this vessel as mate. Insist upon it. The last mate was killed, and, I believe, the one before the last. Father is the only man in the world who can control them. They will kill you, too—they will kill you, Rob. And then—what will I do?"
"I agreed to, Jessie. ”

“ He is kind to me—though I tell him frankly that I do not care for him as a daughter should—but, when he is in liquor he is a fiend."
"Drinks, does he? I should think a man in his trade would not."
"He drinks at every port when the work is done—that is, when all the animals are disposed of. ”