periencetoteachthemasitwere），andofcourse，aslongastherewasapieceofpaperwrittenoverinac-
cordancewithsomefarcicallaworothermadedowntheriver，itdidn’tenteranybody’sheadtotroublehowtheywouldlive。Certainlytheyhadbroughtwiththemsomerottenhippo-meat，whichcouldn’thavelastedverylong，anyway，evenifthepilgrimshadn’t，inthemidstofashockinghullabaloo，thrownaconsiderablequantityofitoverboard。Itlookedlikeahigh-handedproceed-
ing;butitwasreallyacaseoflegitimateself-defense。
Youcan’tbreathedeadhippowaking，sleeping，andeating，andatthesametimekeepyourprecariousgriponexistence。Besidesthat，theyhadgiventhemeveryweekthreepiecesofbrasswire，eachaboutnineincheslong;andthetheorywastheyweretobuytheirpro-
visionswiththatcurrencyinriver-sidevillages。YoucanseehowTHATworked。Therewereeithernovillages，orthepeoplewerehostile，orthedirector，wholiketherestofusfedoutoftins，withanoccasionaloldhe-goatthrownin，didn’twanttostopthesteamerforsomemoreorlessreconditereason。So，unlesstheyswallowedthewireitself，ormadeloopsofittosnarethefisheswith，Idon’tseewhatgoodtheirextravagantsalarycouldbetothem。Imustsayitwaspaidwitharegularityworthyofalargeandhonorabletradingcompany。Fortherest，theonlythingtoeat——thoughitdidn’tlookeat-