' The Royal Navy was
the best of possible services, according to him. 'Anyway the
officers are gentlemen,' said he; 'and you can't get hazed to death
by a damned non-commissioned--as you can in the army.' Among
nations, England was the first; then came France. He respected the
French navy and liked the French people; and if he were forced to
make a new choice in life, 'by God, he would try Frenchmen!' For
all his looks and rough, cold manners, I observed that children
were never frightened by him; they divined him at once to be a
friend; and one night when he had chalked his hand and clothes, it
was incongruous to hear this formidable old salt chuckling over his
boyish monkey trick.
In the morning, my first thought was of the sick man. I was afraid
I should not recognise him, baffling had been the light of the
lantern; and found myself unable to decide if he were Scots,
English, or Irish. He had certainly employed north-country words
and elisions; but the accent and the pronunciation seemed
unfamiliar and incongruous in my ear.
To descend on an empty stomach into Steerage No. 1, was an
adventure that required some nerve. The stench was atrocious; each
respiration tasted in the throat like some horrible kind of cheese;
and the squalid aspect of the place was aggravated by so many
people worming themselves into their clothes in twilight of the
bunks.
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