the cabin, and at breakfast the next morning we had the second mate;
and so it went turn and turn with them at meals--except that they had
some sort of dog-watch way about the Saturday night and Sunday morning
that always gave the mate his Sunday dinner with the captain, as was
the due of his rank.

The mate was a surly brute, and when Captain Chilton said, in quite a
formal way, "Mr. Roger Stetworth, let me make you acquainted with Mr.
George Hinds," he only grunted and gave me a sort of a nod. He did not
have much to say while the supper went on, speaking only when the
captain spoke to him, and then shortly; but from time to time he
snatched a mighty sharp look at me--that I pretended not to notice,
but saw well enough out of the tail of my eye. It was plain enough
that he was taking my measure, and I even fancied that he would have
been better pleased had I been six inches or so shorter and with less
well-made shoulders and arms. When he did speak it was in a growling
rumble of a voice, and he swore naturally.

Captain Luke evidently tried to make up for the mate's surliness; and
he really was very pleasant indeed--telling me stories about the
Coast, and giving me good advice about guarding against sickness
there, and showing such an interest in my prospects with the palm-oil
people, and in my welfare generally, that I was still more inclined to
think that my scare about the shackles was only foolishness from first
to last. He seemed to be really pleased when he found that I was not
seasick, and interested when I told him how well I knew the sea and
the management of small craft from my sailing in the waters about
Nantucket every summer for so many years; and then we got to talking
about the Coast again and about my outfit for it, which he said was a
very good one; and he especially commended me--instead of laughing at