Part 8 (1/2)

Wolf Larsen was counting his winnings

”One hundred and eighty-five dollars even,” he said aloud ”Just as I thought The beggar came aboard without a cent”

”And what you have won is mine, sir,” I said boldly

He favoured raled 'Was mine,' you should have said, not 'is rammar, but of ethics,” I answered

It was possibly a minute before he spoke

”D'ye know, Hump,” he said, with a slow seriousness which had in it an indefinable strain of sadness, ”that this is the first time I have heard the word 'ethics' in the mouth of a man You and I are the only ”

”At one time in my life,” he continued, after another pause, ”I dreae, that I ht lift myself out of the place in life in which I had been born, and hold conversation and s as ethics And this is the first time I have ever heard the word pronounced Which is all by the way, for you are wrong It is a question neither of grammar nor ethics, but of fact”

”I understand,” I said ”The fact is that you have the htened He see the real question,” I continued, ”which is one of right”

”Ah,” he remarked, with a wry pucker of his ht and wrong”

”But don't you?-at all?” I deht, and that is all there is to it Weakness is wrong Which is a very poor way of saying that it is good for oneself to be strong, and evil for oneself to be weak-or better yet, it is pleasurable to be strong, because of the profits; painful to be weak, because of the penalties Just now the possession of this ood for one to possess it Being able to possess it, I wrong ive it to you and forego the pleasure of possessing it”

”But you wrongit,” I objected

”Not at all Onehi alhen I consider the interests of others Don't you see? How can two particles of the yeast wrong each other by striving to devour each other? It is their inborn heritage to strive to devour, and to strive not to be devoured When they depart from this they sin”

”Then you don't believe in altruism?” I asked

He received the word as if it had a fahtfully ”Letabout cooperation, doesn't it?”

”Well, in a way there has come to be a sort of connection,” I answered unsurprised by this tie, was the acquirement of a self-read, self-educated man, whoht much and talked little or not at all ”An altruistic act is an act performed for the welfare of others It is unselfish, as opposed to an act performed for self, which is selfish”

He nodded his head ”Oh, yes, I remember it now I ran across it in Spencer”

”Spencer!” I cried ”Have you read him?”

”Not very ood deal of First Principles, but his Biology took the wind out ofaround in the doldrums for many a day I honestly could not understand what he was driving at I put it down to mental deficiency on my part, but since then I have decided that it was for want of preparation I had no proper basis Only Spencer andout of his Data of Ethics There's where I ran across 'altruism,' and I remember noas used”

I wondered what this ot froh to know that altruishest conduct Wolf Larsen, evidently, had sifted the great philosopher's teachings, rejecting and selecting according to his needs and desires

”What else did you run across?” I asked