Don’tIrememberthelittleSo-and-so’s!ItellyouIoughttoknowtherightkindoflooks。Iwouldhavetrustedthedecktothatyoungsteronthestrengthofasingleglance，andgonetosleepwithbotheyes——and，byJove!itwouldn’thavebeensafe。Helookedasgenuineasanewsovereign，buttherewassomeinfernalalloyinhismetal。Howmuch？Theleastthing——theleastdropofsomethingrareandaccursed；theleastdrop!——buthemadeyou——standingtherewithhisdon’t-care-hangair——hemadeyouwonderwhetherperchancehewerenothingmorerarethanbrass。
`Icouldn’tbelieveit。ItellyouIwantedtoseehimsquirmforthehonourofthecraft。Theothertwono-accountchapsspottedtheircaptain，andbegantomoveslowlytowardsus。Theychattedtogetherastheystrolled，andIdidnotcareanymorethaniftheyhadnotbeenvisibletothenakedeye。Theygrinnedateachother——mighthavebeenexchangingjokes，forallIknow。Isawthatwithoneofthemitwasthecaseofabrokenarm；
andastothelongindividualwithgreymoustacheshewasthechiefengineer，andinvariouswaysaprettynotoriouspersonality。Theywerenobodies。
Theyapproached。Theskippergazedinaninanimatewaybetweenhisfeet：
heseemedtobeswollentoanunnaturalsizebysomeawfuldisease，bythemysteriousactionofanunknownpoison。Heliftedhishead，sawthetwobeforehimwaiting，openedhismouthwithanextraordinary，sneeringcontortionofhispuffedface——tospeaktothem，Isuppose——andthenathoughtseemedtostrikehim。Histhick，purplishlipscametogetherwithoutasound，hewentoffinaresolutewaddletothegharryandbegantojerkatthedoor-handlewithsuchablindbrutalityofimpatiencethatIexpectedtoseethewholeconcernoverturnedonitsside，ponyandall。Thedriver，shakenoutofhismeditationoverthesoleofhisfoot，displayedatonceallthesignsofintenseterror，andheldwithbothhands，lookingroundfromhisboxatthisvastcarcassforcingitswayintohisconveyance。