MEN OF THE ''ALEXANDER'' 27 



heavily as if in answer to the rise and fall of 

 waves. He was a silent, easy-going man, with 

 a fund of dry humor and hard common sense. 

 He never did any more work than he had to, and 

 before the voyage ended, he was suspected by 

 the officers of being a malingerer. All the sailors 

 liked him. 



Gabriel, the second mate, was a negro from 

 the Cape Verde islands. His native language 

 was Portuguese and he talked funny, broken 

 English. He was about forty-five years old, 

 and though he was almost as dark-skinned as 

 any Ethiopian, he had hair and a full beard as 

 finely spun and free from kinkiness as a Cau- 

 casian's. The sailors used to say that Gabriel 

 was a white man born black by accident. He was 

 a kindly, cheerful soul with shrewd native wit. 

 He was a whaleman of life-long experience. 



Mendez, the third mate, and Long John, one 

 of the boatsteerers, were also Cape Verde island- 

 ers. Long John was a giant, standing six feet, 

 four inches; an ungainly, powerful fellow, with 

 a black face as big as a ham and not much more 

 expressive. He had the reputation of being on^ 



