186 A TEAR WITH A WHALER 



the captain is standing with his hands in his 

 pants pockets, smiling friendly-like. ' Hello, 

 Slim,' he says. * Sit down in this chair.' I sits 

 down and the captain says, ' Well, my boy, 

 what's the matter with you?' ' I'ni sick,' says 

 I. * Where do you feel bad? ' he says. * I ache 

 all over,' says I. He steps over in front of me, 

 still with that little smile on his face. * I've got 

 good medicine aboard this ship,' he says, * and I'll 

 fix you up in a jiffy, my boy,' says he. With 

 that he jerks one of his hands out of his pocket 

 and he has a revolver clutched in it. ' Here's 

 the medicine you need,' he says and he bats me 

 over the cocoanut with the gun. 



" The blood spurts all over me and I jumps 

 up and yells, but the captain points his pistol 

 at me and orders me to sit down again. He 

 storms up and do\vn the cabin floor. ' I'll teach 

 you who's master aboard this ship,' he shouts 

 and for a minute he was so purple in the face 

 with rage, I thought he was going to murder me 

 for sure. By and by he cools down. * Well, 

 Slim,' he says, ' I guess I hit you a little harder 

 than I meant to, but I'm a bad man when I get 



