80 A YEAR WITH A WHALER, 



ten feet away, the mate cracked a joke to the 

 second mate and the two laughed uproariously. 

 The work of the ship went on all around. 



Looking upon the dead thing lying there, I 

 thought of the pride with which the living man 

 had borne himself in the days of his power. I 

 beheld in fancy the silent, lonely, imperious lit- 

 tle figure, pacing to and fro on the weather side 

 of the quarter-deck — to and fro under the stars. 

 I saw him stop in the darkness by the wheel, 

 as his custom was, to peer dowTi into the lighted 

 binnacle and say in vibrant tones, " Keep her 

 steady," or " Let her luff." I saw him buttoned 

 up in his overcoat to keep the dew of the tropical 

 night from his rheumatic joints, slip down the 

 poop ladder and stump forward past the try- 

 works to see how things fared in the bow. Again 

 I heard his nightly cry to the lookout on the fore- 

 castle-head. Keep a bright lookout dere, you,'* 

 and saw him limp back to continue his vigil, 

 pacing up and down. The qualities that had 

 made him hated when he was indeed the Xight 

 King flooded back upon me, but I did not forget 

 the courage of my enemy that had redeemed 



