William Hope Hodgson

“ As a result of his lamming, young Nibby Tompkins was a very sick lad when the big steel bark, Alceste, ran in through the Golden Gate, and came to anchor off Telegraph Hill, San Francisco.
Captain Bully Keller squared the doctor with a hundred-dollar bill; and little Nibby Tompkins's illness was recorded officially as rheumatism, with the result that there were no awkward inquiries from the authorities ashore. Nor had Captain Keller anything to fear from his crew; for the plain and simple reason that each man feared him like the wrath of God, or, indeed, considerably more. ”

“ Jackson, the pleasant bucko mate, who walked the short poop, away aft, grinning like a wolf.
Eventually, Captain Bully Keller, having lashed his sides sufficiently to require violent action as a sedative, would spring at the nearest bunks and haul a couple of men out by their hair. He would pile them on the deck of the fo'cas'le in a struggling heap, which he kicked and punched until, in desperation, they would “go” for him, fighting mad, only to be knocked out of time and place by the captain's great fists. ”

“ CAPTAIN BULLY KELLER made the first serious mistake of a triumphal career, as hard-case skipper, when he hammered little Nibby Tompkins, the ship's boy.
He used the end of the mizzen topsail halyards for this purpose, and the topsail halyards of a three-thousand-ton, steel, four-masted bark is no suitable rope to lay across the back of a boy of fourteen or fifteen. It is certainly too heavy. ”

“ Tompkins, in his quiet, deep voice.
“Gen'rally about midnight,” said Nibby. “I sleeps in the bottom of the boat till they comes.”
“Where's the ship, son?” asked his father. “Your mother's set that she must see where you sleep and eat, and what-like your clothes is, an' the like. Can we go aboard?”
“Sure, feyther,” said Nibby. “Come, Mother an' Dad. I'll pull ye both out in a crack. There's hours 'fore the boat'll be needed.”
Ten minutes later Nibby and his father and mother were in the somewhat gloomy, bare, iron-sided fo'cas'le of the Alceste. ”

“ This was when a big Irish A. B. had jumped out of his bunk, at the first taunt the skipper had let loose, and had knocked Captain Bully Keller across the fo'cas'le with a mighty and scientific right-and-left punch. And Captain Bully Keller had immediately shown the brute's blood that was in him; for he had drawn his gun and shot the big Irishman through the shoulder; after which, although the man was disabled, he had hammered him into quietness.
There you have the man. He loved fighting. He liked a good fight ”

“ Here was a clear four hundred dollars going a-begging, and Captain Keller had considerably more use for gold than for his own soul. He regretted, savagely, that he hadn't seen at once the kind of people these prospective passengers were. They were just the sort of folk to be shy of taking passage with a man that hadn't a “denomination” of his own. ”

“ It's never too late——”
“You get to hell out of here, 'fore I smash you, you psalm-singing, chin-wagging goat, you!” bellowed Captain Bully Keller, in his old-time voice.
Mr. Jackson, his bucko mate, away aft on the poop, heard it, and smiled the only way he could smile, which I've explained earlier. This was something he could understand. The skipper was himself again.
In the starboard fo'cas'le doorway, Mr. Tompkins, ex-prize-fighter, winner of over sixty first-class heavy-weight fights, hesitated, in conflict with the “natural eevil” which had “riz” up in him at the “brand's” remark. ”

“ Whatever we are to think about the matter, the fact remains that Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins did take passage with Captain Bully Keller. But, knowing the character of the man, I can scarcely think that even the lure of the four hundred dollars passage-money makes the runner's yarn seem plausible. Yet there is the fact—Nibby's father and mother took passage with Captain Bully Keller, cash paid down!
VI
THE way of the transgressor is hard, we are informed; though the hardness is sometimes less evident than poetic justice might desire. But in the case of Captain Bully Keller, the statement fitted. ”

“ Tompkins continued again:
“But there's hope, Cap'n; there's hope,” said the ex-prize-fighter, with a glow of religious fervor in his somewhat somber eyes. “There's hope, Cap'n. I'm right glad to hear ye say you've a sound respec' for religion. Yes, sir! Maybe the day of salvation approacheth. Would you come to a bit of dinner with me an' my missus, up at the Pike Restrong? Maybe we can fix this up over a snack,- Cap'n. I'd sure like a talk. I've been a great sinner, Cap'n, meself. A great sinner—and the fare you say, is four hundred dollars. Very good. Maybe we can show you the path, Cap'n. ”

“ The little woman gave out a small screech, and ran at the lad. Then her arms were round him, and she was crooning and crying, together, in sudden satisfied contentment.
The short, thick-set man came forward slowly and patted the woman gently on the shoulder. “There, there. Mother! Don't 'ee take on!” he said, in a curiously deep, gentle voice.
“You'll not be hard with him, Jo-seph?” said the woman, in a stifled, anxious tone.
“Nay, Mother, the lad's made his bed, and he must lie on it; but there's things I've to say to him. ”

“ But don't think, son, as I'll stand for you backin' down from your contrac'! You've made your bed, and you'll lie in it! You'll finish this voyage, out and back to Boston, and sign off proper and get your discharge and money, and come home, and maybe you'll have learned a bit sense by then, and found the sea's not like the dime books tell about. What are you doing down in that boat?”
“I'm standin' by her, feyther, till cap'n an' mate come back from the drink saloon,” said Nibby, loosing himself gently out of his mother's arms and facing his father. ”

“ Tompkins, ex-prize-fighter, winner of over sixty fights, turned and walked aft slowly, without a word.
VII
“I RECK'N I'm standin' right in the shoes of law an' Providence,” said Captain Bully Keller, later, in answer to Mr. Tompkins's gentle remonstrances. “I'm cap'n of this ship, sir, an' I reckon cap'in of a ship is the nearest thing to the A'mighty you'll get in this world; an' if I choose to do anything, why, I guess I'm the man as does it; an' I'm right weary o' psalm-singing'! An' likewise. ”

“ I'd not sung mor'n two verses of 'Whisky is the Life of a Man,' when I found myself up on the pen-tent form, with one of 'em on each side of me, prayin' like the divil. Well, mates, I got thinkin', as I was there, I might as well let 'em save me, an' be done wiv it, when the next thing I knows, there was the capting, right on me starboard beam, with that old codger as come aboard to-day, and his missus, one on each side of him ”