The Nigger of the Narcissus

Too big for your boots. Think yourselves damn good men. Know half your work. Do half your duty. Think it too much. If you did ten times as much it wouldn’t be enough.”⁠—“We did our best by her, sir,” cried someone with shaky exasperation.⁠—“Your best,” stormed on the master; “You hear a lot on shore, don’t you? They don’t tell you there your best isn’t much to boast of. I tell you⁠—your best is no better than bad. You can do no more? No, I know, and say nothing. But you stop your caper or I will stop it for you. I am ready for you! Stop it!” He shook a finger at the crowd. “As to that man,” he raised his voice very much; “as to that man, if he puts his nose out on deck without my leave I will clap him in irons. There!” The cook heard him forward, ran out of the galley lifting his arms, horrified, unbelieving, amazed, and ran in again. There was a moment of profound silence during which a bowlegged seaman, stepping aside, expectorated decorously into the scupper. “There is another thing,” said the master, calmly. He made a quick stride and with a swing took an iron belaying-pin out of his pocket. “This!” His movement was so unexpected and sudden that the crowd stepped back. He gazed fixedly at their faces, and some at once put on a surprised air as though they had never seen a belaying-pin before. He held it up. “This is my affair. I don’t ask you any questions, but you all know it; it has got to go where it came from.” His eyes became angry. The crowd stirred uneasily. They looked away from the piece of iron, they appeared shy, they were embarrassed and shocked as though it had been something horrid, scandalous, or indelicate, that in common decency should not have been flourished like this in broad daylight. The master watched them attentively. “Donkin,” he called out in a short, sharp tone.

Donkin dodged behind one, then behind another, but they looked over their shoulders and moved aside. The ranks kept on opening before him, closing behind, till at last he appeared alone before the master as though he had come up through the deck. Captain Allistoun moved close to him. They were much of a size, and at short range the master exchanged a deadly glance with the beady eyes. They wavered.⁠—“You know this?” asked the master.⁠—“No, I don’t,” answered the other, with cheeky trepidation.⁠—“You are a cur. Take it,” ordered the master. Donkin’s arms seemed glued to his thighs; he stood, eyes front, as if drawn on parade. “Take it,” repeated the master, and stepped closer; they breathed on one another. “Take it,” said Captain Allistoun again, making a menacing gesture. Donkin tore away one arm from his side.⁠—“Vy are yer down on me?” he mumbled with effort and as if his mouth had been full of dough.⁠—“If you don’t⁠ ⁠…” began the master. Donkin snatched at the pin as though his intention had been to run away with it, and remained stock still holding it like a candle. “Put it back where you took it from,” said Captain Allistoun, looking at him fiercely. Donkin stepped back opening wide eyes. “Go, you blackguard, or I will make you,” cried the master, driving him slowly backwards by a menacing advance. He dodged, and with the dangerous iron tried to guard his head from a threatening fist. Mr. Baker ceased grunting for a moment.⁠—“Good! By Jove,” murmured appreciatively Mr. Creighton in the tone of a connoisseur.⁠—“Don’t tech me,” snarled Donkin, backing away.⁠—“Then go. Go faster.”⁠—“Don’t yer ’it me.⁠ ⁠… I will pull yer up afore the magistryt.⁠ ⁠… I’ll show yer up.” Captain Allistoun made a long stride, and Donkin, turning his back fairly, ran off a little, then stopped and over his shoulder showed yellow teeth.⁠—“Further on, fore-rigging,” urged the master, pointing with his arm.⁠—“Are yer goin’ to stand by and see me bullied?” screamed Donkin at the silent crowd that watched him. Captain Allistoun walked at him smartly. He started off again with a leap, dashed at the fore-rigging, rammed the pin into its hole violently. “I’ll be even with yer yet,” he screamed at the ship at large and vanished beyond the foremast. Captain Allistoun spun round and walked back aft with a composed face, as though he had already forgotten the scene. Men moved out of his way. He looked at no one.⁠—“That will do, Mr. Baker. Send the watch below,” he said, quietly. “And you men try to walk straight for the future,” he added in a calm voice. He looked pensively for a while at the backs of the impressed and retreating crowd. “Breakfast, steward,” he called in a tone of relief through the cabin door.⁠—“I didn’t like to see you⁠—Ough!⁠—give that pin to that chap, sir,” observed Mr. Baker; “he could have bust⁠—Ough!⁠—bust your head like an eggshell with it.”⁠—“O! he!” muttered the master, absently. “Queer lot,” he went on in a low voice. “I suppose it’s all right now. Can never tell though nowadays, with such a⁠ ⁠… Years ago; I was a young master then⁠—one China voyage I had a mutiny; real mutiny, Baker. Different men though. I knew what they wanted: they wanted to broach the cargo and get at the liquor. Very simple.⁠ ⁠… We knocked them about for two days, and when they had enough⁠—gentle as lambs. Good crew. And a smart trip I made.” He glanced aloft at the yards braced sharp up. “Head wind day after day,” he exclaimed, bitterly. “Shall we never get a decent slant this passage?”⁠—“Ready, sir,” said the steward, appearing before them as if by magic and with a stained napkin in his hand.⁠—“Ah! All right. Come along, Mr. Baker⁠—it’s late⁠—with all this nonsense.”

V

A heavy atmosphere of oppressive quietude pervaded the ship. In the afternoon men went about washing clothes and hanging them out to dry