THE FATTED CALF. 11 



" Yes, old fellow, you'll do as Dorothy says, if 

 you're wise. She has her way sooner or later 

 every time and there's no escape. We all have to 

 submit, and you're no exception, even if you are 

 a whaleman ! " 



Submit ? Of course he would submit. He 

 would have pushed a holy stone up and down 

 the deck from morn till dewy eve (and never 

 growled) if the Girl had bidden him. He would 

 have tarred the rigging from the fore-royal stay 

 to the topping-lift (and left no " holidays") if the 

 Girl had so ordered. He would have slushed the 

 mast in the blaze of the torrid equatorial sun (and 

 without inwardly cursing the lot of poor Jack) if 

 Dorothy's dimpling smiles would have approved 

 his toil. And, as the greater includes the less, he 

 was ready to tell at her behest how he had consti- 

 tuted himself a persona non grata aboard the 

 whale-ship Swift. 



He was twenty. At fifteen he had signed sail- 

 ing papers that bound him away as a cabin-boy 

 on a three years' voyage sperm-whaling, but the 

 three years had stretched out to four, and the 

 four to nearly five. At last he was home again, 

 after roving so long among the islands of the 

 South Pacific. He had just arrived. In fact, 

 twenty-four hours had not yet gone by since he 



