"
Two hours later Captain Branscome sent word for me to attend him in
his cabin.
"I want to tell you, Harry Brooks," said the old man, turning away
from me while he lit his pipe, "that I have been thinking over what
happened this afternoon."
"I was in the wrong, sir."
"You were; and I am glad to hear you acknowledge it. Now, what I
want to say is this. Had affairs gone in the least as I expected, I
should have held you to 'strict service,' as we used to say on the
old packets. I never tolerated a favourite on board, and never
shall. But these ladies don't make a favourite of you; that's not
the trouble. The trouble--no, I won't call it even that--is that you
and they all cannot help taking the bit between your teeth. It don't
appear to be your fault; you wasn't bred to the sea, and can't tumble
to sea-fashions. 'So much the worse,' a man might say. The plague
of it is, I can't be sure; and after casting it up and down, I've
determined to let you have your way."
"You don't mean, sir, that you're going to resign!" said I,
confounded.
"No, I don't. Saving your objections, boy, I was elected captain,
and it don't do away with my responsibility that I choose to let
discipline go to the winds.
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