The Sailors Called Me
'mate,' The Officers Addressed Me As 'my Man,' My Comrades Accepted
Me Without Hesitation For A Person Of Their Own Character And
Experience, But With Some Curious Information.
One, a mason
himself, believed I was a mason; several, and among these at least
one of the seaman,
Judged me to be a petty officer in the American
navy; and I was so often set down for a practical engineer that at
last I had not the heart to deny it. From all these guesses I drew
one conclusion, which told against the insight of my companions.
They might be close observers in their own way, and read the
manners in the face; but it was plain that they did not extend
their observation to the hands.
To the saloon passengers also I sustained my part without a hitch.
It is true I came little in their way; but when we did encounter,
there was no recognition in their eye, although I confess I
sometimes courted it in silence. All these, my inferiors and
equals, took me, like the transformed monarch in the story, for a
mere common, human man. They gave me a hard, dead look, with the
flesh about the eye kept unrelaxed.
With the women this surprised me less, as I had already
experimented on the sex by going abroad through a suburban part of
London simply attired in a sleeve-waistcoat. The result was
curious. I then learned for the first time, and by the exhaustive
process, how much attention ladies are accustomed to bestow on all
male creatures of their own station; for, in my humble rig, each
one who went by me caused me a certain shock of surprise and a
sense of something wanting.
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