Men shed tears in
public; bosses of lodging-houses, long inured to
brutality--and, above all, brutality to sailors--shook
their fists at heaven. If hands could have been laid
on the captain of the GLEANER, his shrift would
have been short. That night (so gossip reports) he was
headed up in a barrel and smuggled across the bay. In
two ships already he had braved the penitentiary and
the gallows; and yet, by last accounts, he now commands
another on the Western Ocean.
As I have said, I was never quite certain whether Mr.
Nares (the mate) did not intend that his superior
should escape. It would have been like his preference
of loyalty to law; it would have been like his
prejudice, which was all in favour of the after-guard.
But it must remain a matter of conjecture only. Well
as I came to know him in the sequel, he was never
communicative on that point--nor, indeed, on any that
concerned the voyage of the GLEANER. Doubtless he
had some reason for his reticence. Even during our
walk to the police office he debated several times with
Johnson, the third officer, whether he ought not to
give up himself, as well as to denounce the captain.
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