As they came down one said to
the other:
"He ain't shamming. The lad is sick enough for a doctor, that's what
'e is, mate."
"Shet up," quoth his companion. "Let the captain hear you and he'll
put you on bread and water for three days, if no worse comes. Every
tub stands on its own bottom in this craft."
Meanwhile Neb had served breakfast in the cabin. Gary and Rucker went
down, Duff taking the first mate's place.
This was the second mate's first voyage with Captain Gary, and he
furtively sympathized with Ralph, but such is the force of discipline
on shipboard that he dared not show his feelings openly.
"It's a burning shame," thought he, "to punish a land lubber of a boy
the first day he ever spent at sea. Sugar wouldn't melt in Gary's
mouth when I went to him for a job, but now the tune is changed. And
to cap all, nobody seems to know where we're bound, unless it may be
Rucker. The crew know nothing, except that we're provisioned for a
long voyage, with a lot of stuff locked up in the hold as no one has
seen yet."
He glanced up at the helpless boy, then shook his head.
"Hut tut! Are you sick of this cruise already, Jacob Duff? This will
never do. You're in for it, so make the most of your luck, even if it
turns out you do have a fiend for a skipper."
When Gary and his first officer returned, Duff went below. But as he
ate, his thoughts reverted so persistently to Ralph's predicament that
he grew impatient with himself.
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