Strained Relations
and went and fetched me my quart mug full of tea, and I drank the last drop of it, and it stayed down, too. 'N' I was niver seasick again after that."
(I managed to hear that three times before seeing the last of the steward, and each time it was longer and more complicated, with more details.) All the time, the little old man was leaning up against a projecting panel of the wall, with his arms crossed, glaring and glowering and staring and scowling at the captain. He would arch up his bald forehead, making the high wrinkles show, and his eyes would look most keen and piercing—his old blue eyes—beneath his high forehead. I never saw such expressions of hatred in my life; and I confess that I was amused very much indeed. And when Captain Avery looked at the steward to ask him for something, he, too, looked frowningly and hatefully. But the cook was fond of me, partly because I listened to his talk with a long ear, and partly because I had helped him, to my own delight, setting the table and getting the supper ready.
***
We were through before very long, and the mate and bo's'n came down to take our places at the table. The most exciting part of the evening was still
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