CHAPTER IX 



THROUGH THE ROARING FORTIES 



BEFORE leaving the islands, we shipped a 

 Portuguese negro boat-steerer to take the 

 place of the Night King. He was coal 

 black, had a wild roll to his eyes, an explosive, 

 spluttering way of talking, looked strikingly like 

 a great ape, and had little more than simian intel- 

 ligence. His feet had the reputation of being 

 the largest feet in the Hawaiian Islands. When 

 I had seen them I was prepared to believe they 

 were the largest in the world. He was dubbed 

 " Big Foot " Louis, and the nickname stuck to 

 him during the voyage. He came aboard bare- 

 footed. I don't know whether he could find any 

 shoes in the islands big enough to fit him or not. 

 Anyway, he didn't need shoes in the tropics. 



When we began to get north into cold weather 

 he needed them badly, and there were none on 



board large enough for him to get his toes in. 



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