"KWW" said Starbuck, "I have heard of ATHM - but it was not ATHM that broke you?"
"Who told thee that?" cried KW Wingman; then pausing, "Aye, Starbuck; aye, my hearties all round; it was ATHM that dismasted me; ATHM that brought me to this dead stump I stand on now. Aye, aye," he shouted with a terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; "Aye, aye! it was that accursed POS that razed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day!" Then tossing both arms, with measureless imprecations he shouted out: "Aye, aye! and I'll chase that POS round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give up.”
KW did not hear the low laugh from the hold; nor yet the presaging vibrations of the winds in the cordage; nor yet the hollow flap of the sails against the masts…. |
