Bibles and prayer-books seemed scarce articles, but one of the men volunteered to pursue the quest among the watch below, returning in a minute with the information that 'they ain't none.'
? ? ? ? The captain shrugged his shoulders. 'Then we'll drop him over without any palavering, unless our clerical-looking castaway has the burial service at sea by heart.'
? ? ? ? By this time he had swung fully around and was facing me.
? ? ? ? 'You're a preacher, aren't you?' he asked.
? ? ? ? The hunters- there were six of them- to a man turned and regarded me. I was painfully aware of my likeness to a scarecrow. A laugh went up at my appearance- a laugh that was not lessened or softened by the dead man stretched and grinning on the deck before us; a laugh that was as rough and harsh and frank as the sea itself; that arose out of coarse feelings and blunted sensibilities, from natures that knew neither courtesy nor gentleness.
? ? ? ? Wolf Larsen did not laugh, though his gray eyes lighted with a slight glint of amusement; and in that moment, having stepped forward quite close to him, I received my first impression of the man himself- of the man as apart from his body and from the torrent of blasphemy I had heard.
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