"
"Superfluous to say one's prayers?" questioned Willy in utmost
surprise, opening wide his big blue eyes. "The good Fathers prayed
every day, and used to say that 'he who knows not how to pray, the sea
will teach to pray'. What will become of us, if God and his angels do
not watch over and guard us?"
"Oh, dear me! You talk just like the preaching Brothers," laughed the
Captain, in a way that made the boy shudder.
"Well, for aught that I care keep on praying to your guardian angel to
watch over you, but now go into the kitchen and get a cup of coffee and
a biscuit or two. Hurry yourself. In five minutes be ready for work
and report on deck to the first officer."
In the meantime the boatswain had started for the steerage, where three
hundred Chinamen were packed like herrings on the floor and in the
berths along the sides of the room. When he opened the trap-door to go
down the stairs, the poisonous stench which assailed his nostrils
almost knocked him down. "By all the great sharks in the sea," he
cried angrily, "I believe it would be easier to breathe in the bottom
of the ocean than down there with those pig-tailed Chinamen! He! I
don't want to go down there.
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