Adventures in Many Lands, page 179 by Various Authors
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reported that the heavens intimated that it was twelve o'clock, and, with all the humility of a captain of a man-of-war, I ordered him to 'make it so'; whereupon it was made, and so passed that day.
"I do not remember how many days it was afterwards that I was on the carronade as usual, about the same time, and all parties were precisely in the same situations--the master by my side, the baboon under the booms, and the boy walking out of the cabin with his bread-and-butter. As before, he again passed the baboon, who again snatched the bread-and-butter from the boy, who again set up a squall, which again attracted my attention. I looked round, and the baboon caught my eye, which told him plainly that he'd soon catch what was not at all my eye; and he proved that he actually thought so, for he at once put the bread-and-butter back into the boy's hands!
"It was the only instance of which I ever knew or heard of a monkey being capable of self-denial where his stomach was concerned, and I record it accordingly. This poor fellow, when the ship's company were dying of the cholera, took that disease, went through all its gradations, and died apparently in great agony."
XVIII
THE PILOT OF PORT CREEK
The sun, low in the west, was sinking behind a heavy cloudbank, which, to nautical eyes, portended fog at sea.
A mariner, far out in the Channel, in a small boat, was shading his eyes with his hand and gazing towards the south-western horizon.
The lad--he was not more than eighteen--was calculated to attract attention. He was of fine physique. His hair shone like burnished gold. His eyes were deep blue, clear, and bright. A marked firmness was about his mouth and chin; and when he seized the oars and rowed to counteract the boat's leeway caused by the tide, the grip of his hands was as that of a vice.
He was the pilot of Port Creek--no official title, but one given him by a lawless set of men amongst whom, for many years, his lot had been cast.
Astern