I had not
forgotten his rough speech; but I remembered also that he had helped
us about the lantern; and now seeing him in conversation with Jones,
and being choked with indignation, I proceeded to blow off my steam.
'Well,' said I, 'I make you my compliments upon your steward,' and
furiously narrated what had happened.
'I've nothing to do with him,' replied the bo's'un. 'They're all
alike. They wouldn't mind if they saw you all lying dead one upon
the top of another.'
This was enough. A very little humanity went a long way with me
after the experience of the evening. A sympathy grew up at once
between the bo's'un and myself; and that night, and during the next
few days, I learned to appreciate him better. He was a remarkable
type, and not at all the kind of man you find in books. He had been
at Sebastopol under English colours; and again in a States ship,
'after the ALABAMA, and praying God we shouldn't find her.' He was a
high Tory and a high Englishman. No manufacturer could have held
opinions more hostile to the working man and his strikes. 'The
workmen,' he said, 'think nothing of their country.
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