Part 30 (1/2)
”Bah! Any big, strong, stupid felloith no brains to boast about, can ju of that kind I want to see you act like a brave felloho is ready to s, and behave in a ood advice We shall have bad weather enough to deal with out in the open; we don't want any moral bad weather in the cabin Go to the captain, and speak out frankly Do you knohat he will do?”
”Look ata brave man and my friend, sir,” said the doctor sternly ”I know Captain Marsha of the kind He will listen calmly and dispassionately to all you have to say, and then perhaps point out a few things”
”To hu out No, hardly to humiliate you; but, even if he does, who the salts of tartar are you, sir, that you are not to be spoken to and hu?”
”Oh, I'm nobody,” said Steve bitterly; ”I'm a donkey and an ass”
”Yes,” said the doctor quietly, ”but that is rather running wild; a donkey and an ass are the sas to cut your coood; and I a here that he will end by saying, 'There, my boy, then, that's an end of it Let it be a lesson to you
Now shake hands'”
”He wouldn't say that He'd sendmore miserable than I feel now”
”I know better than that,yourself”
”Then, if a boy strikes ain?” cried Steve
”Humph! Well, I did not say that, my lad, exactly”
”What was I to do, sir? Was I to let thatand sneering at me ever since we started from Nordoe, knock me about, and I not retaliate?”
The doctor looked puzzled
”Go in and shake hands with the captain; he's in his cabin”
”No, he isn't I heard hio on deck, sir But you didn't answer ht with a boy like that Look at your clothes”
”Oh yes, I know, sir I' about what I asked: was I to let him knock me about and crow over ht have kicked him”
”And that would have been cowardly, and he would have kicked ht with the feet than it is to fight with the hands”
”Humph! Well, yes, I suppose it is,” muttered the doctor; ”but never mind that Go on deck as soon as you're decent, and talk to the captain there”
”I can't, sir”
”Then will you go to him when he coan to groarm
”Now, don't be absurd and obstinate, sir,” he cried; ”do as I advise you, and let's get this miserable trouble out of the way The cabin's too small, and we all want to help one another too much, for our little commonwealth to be at sixes and sevens Come, pitch all that shame and cowardice overboard”