In the course of time I brought up on the starboard side of the pilot-house, and found a sextant lying on a bench. Now, I said, they “take the sun” through this thing; I should think I might see that vessel through it. I had hardly got it to my eye when someone touched me on the shoulder and said deprecatingly:
“I’ll have to get you to give that to me, Sir. If there’s any
thing you’d like to know about taking the sun, I’d as soon tell you as not—but I don’t like to trust any body with that instrument. If you want any figuring done— Aye, aye, sir!”
He was gone to answer a call from the other side. I sought the deck-sweep:
“Who is that spider-legged gorilla yonder with the sanctimonious countenance?”
“It’s Captain Jones, Sir—the chief mate.”