Digital heart book

No profanity in giving orders, no sheath-knives, Midway
Island and any other port the master may direct, not to
exceed six calendar months, and to this port to be paid
off: so it seemed to run, with surprising verbiage; so
ended. And with the end the commissioner, in each
case, fetched a deep breath, resumed his natural voice,
and proceeded to business. "Now, my man," he would
say, "you ship A. B. at so many dollars, American gold
coin. Sign your name here, if you have one, and can
write." Whereupon, and the name (with infinite hard
breathing) being signed, the commissioner would proceed
to fill in the man's appearance, height, etc., on the
official form. In this task of literary portraiture he
seemed to rely wholly upon temperament; for I could not
perceive him to cast one glance on any of his models.
He was assisted, however, by a running commentary from
the captain: "Hair blue and eyes red, nose five foot
seven, and stature broken"--jests as old, presumably,
as the American marine; and, like the similar
pleasantries of the billiard board, perennially
relished.


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