"Yes, it is all gone. We do not hesitate when we face the inevitable, no matter what the sacrifice may be."
"Well, I'm blowed!" soliloquized the pilot. "It will take me some time to get over this little bit of history."
"I daresay," said the captain; "but it is time you took charge--she is now within your jurisdiction. What do you say to going on the bridge? You will find the chief officer there, with whom you may condole, if it be safe for a stranger to speak of so delicate a subject to him. You will, perhaps, find him stupefied with grief and shame at the unpatriotic conduct of his commander, and I daresay his language will impress you with the venerable traditions cherished by his class when things are supposed to have gone wrong."
The pilot greeted the chief officer cordially, but did not receive a very polite response to his attempts to draw him into conversation about his recent experiences, and was cut short in a sailorly fashion by being told if he wanted any information about experiences, as he called them, to go and ask "that ---- fool of a skipper about it."
"I have had a little conversation with him," replied the pilot; "and it does seem to me extraordinary--and if I were not here I might almost say an outrage--that no other course could be found than utter sacrifice."
"Oh, don't talk to me!" exclaimed the vivacious mate, in a flood of passion. "You call it extraordinary and an outrage! Is that a proper name for such wickedness? You ask me what I think of it? I tell you I cannot think. You talk about outrage! I say, sir, it is joining outrage to injustice, and I cannot believe that any other than a frozen-souled fool would have done it. There is not a glimmering of common-sense in it. The wonder is that he didn't take it back to the scoundrels, for pity's sake!"
This outburst of withering scorn encouraged the pilot to ask what the sailors thought of it.
"Go and ask them, if you want to hear something you've never heard before."
The captain, who was in the charthouse, could not help hearing these interesting opinions of himself, nor could he help enjoying the rugged humour of them. His mate had his peculiarities, but he never doubted his loyalty to himself, and he was sure that on reflection he would come to see the wisdom of disentanglement. He went on to the bridge as though all was serene, asked a few questions of the pilot, and settled down until the vessel arrived at her discharging port.