THE ALBATROSS. 209 



look of outraged anxiety and spoke tremulously,. 

 " Cap'n Robbins," he said, " we shall all be very 

 sorry for this — very, very sorry, and that not 

 many days from now ! " 



" As for the truth of that cheerful prophecy," 

 I answered, "it's more a matter of fact than of 

 opinion. Let us wait and see ! " pleasantly 

 enough I smiled as I spoke, but Russell's frown 

 grew only the gloomier. 



The albatross found his way in time into the 

 cook's coppers and thence at dinner-hour, albeit a 

 trifle tardy, into the cabin. He was served in a 

 delicious sea-pie, though my wife, who was then 

 upon her first voyage, and by no means the tall- 

 water epicure she afterward became, pronounced 

 him decidedly strong and fishy. 



I watched the mate closely, not a little curious 

 to see how he would behave. He was ashamed 

 not to take his portion of that double-decker pie 

 upon his plate, but I noticed that he contented 

 himself with nibbling the potatoes and onions that 

 went with the meat, while of the meat itself he 

 never tasted the tiniest morsel. His objections, 

 forsooth, were conscientious. He was not going 

 to incur the guilt of cannibalism. 



" Russell," I said, " we were speaking of the 

 possible consequences of killing an albatross, you 



14 



