. . . And now we'll sober 'em
up with some cheerfuller business no less practical.'
"The boats having gathered close for this ceremony, he commanded them
to stay so while the crews cooked breakfast. 'I saw the coffee
handed down into No. 1,' he announced. 'Fetch it out, you! . . .
And, after breakfast, I'll overhaul all three boats and see that each
has her share fairly apportioned.'
"I tell you, Roddy, that this Macnaughten, who aboard the _Eurotas_
had been an ordinary skipper conning his ship, and nowise hearty or
communicative, of a sudden proved himself as great as any man I've
read of in history. . . . You may smile if you will. But here was a
man abandoned by Heaven in the waste of the South Pacific, with all
his prospects blasted and all the hopes built on the _Eurotas_ line
(in which, I learned, he had piled his money); with a wife at home,
moreover, and a daughter. Yet for the seven days we kept company he
stood up to duty, fathered us all, never showed sick or sorry.
He had a fairish baritone voice, and it was he that started us
singing to fill up the endless time.
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