As touching Slave-ships meeting, why, they are in such a
prodigious hurry, they run away from each other as soon as possible.
And as for Pirates, when they chance to cross each other's
cross-bones, the first hail is--"How many skulls?"--
the same way that whalers hail--"How many barrels?"
And that question once answered, pirates straightway steer apart,
for they are infernal villains on both sides, and don't like
to see overmuch of each other's villanous likenesses.
But look at the godly, honest, unostentatious, hospitable, sociable,
free-and-easy whaler! What does the whaler do when she meets
another whaler in any sort of decent weather? She has a "Gam,"
a thing so utterly unknown to all other ships that they never
heard of the name even; and if by chance they should hear of it,
they only grin at it, and repeat gamesome stuff about "spouters"
and "blubber-boilers," and such like pretty exclamations.
Why it is that all Merchant-seamen, and also all Pirates and
Man-of-War's men, and Slave-ship sailors, cherish such a scornful
feeling towards Whale-ships; this is a question it would be hard
to answer. Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know
whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory about it.
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