The calm was confirmed. In the far distance, away from the influence of land, the leaden ocean seemed laid out and leaded up, its course finished,soul gone,defunct. But the current from landward,where the ship was, increased; silently sweeping her further and further toward the tranced waters beyond.

　　Still, from his knowledge of those latitudes,cherishing hopes of a breeze, and a fair and fresh one, at any moment,Captain Delano,despite present prospects, buoyantly counted upon bringing the San Dominick safely to anchor ere night. The distance swept over was nothing;since, with a good wind, ten minutes' sailing would retrace more than sixty minutes' drifting. Meantime, one moment turning to mark Rover fighting the tide-rip, and the next to see Don Benito approaching, he continued walking the poop.

　　Gradually he felt a vexation arising from the delay of his boat; this soon merged into uneasiness; and at last, his eye falling continually, as from a stage-box into the pit, upon the strange crowd before and below him, and by-and-by recognizing there the face- now composed to indifference- of the Spanish sailor who had seemed to beckon from the main-chains,something of his old trepidations returned.

　　Ah, thought he- gravely enough- this is like the ague: because it went off,it follows not that it won't come back.

　　Though ashamed of the relapse, he could not altogether subdue it; and so, exerting his good nature to the utmost,insensibly he came to a compromise.

　　Yes, this is a strange craft; a strange history, too, and strange folks on board. But- nothing more.

　　By way of keeping his mind out of mischief till the boat should arrive, he tried to occupy it with turning over and over, in a purely speculative sort of way, some lesser peculiarities of the captain and crew. Among others,four curious points recurred.

　　First, the affair of the Spanish lad assailed with a knife by the slave boy; an act winked at by Don Benito. Second, the tyranny in Don Benito's treatment of Atufal, the black; as if a child should lead a bull of the Nile by the ring in his nose. Third, the trampling of the sailor by the two Negroes; a piece of insolence passed over without so much as a reprimand. Fourth,the cringing submission to their master of all the ship's underlings, mostly blacks; as if by the least inadvertence they feared to draw down his despotic displeasure.

　　Coupling these points,they seemed somewhat contradictory. But what then,thought Captain Delano,glancing toward his now nearing boat,-what then? Why,this Don Benito is a very capricious commander.But he is not the first of the sort I have seen; though it's true he rather exceeds any other. But as a nation- continued he in his reveries-these Spaniards are all an odd set; the very word Spaniard has a curious, conspirator, Guy-Fawkish twang to it. And yet, I dare say,Spaniards in the main are as good folks as any in Duxbury,Massachusetts. Ah,good!At last Rover has come.

　　As, with its welcome freight, the boat touched the side,the oakum- pickers, with venerable gestures, sought to restrain the blacks,who,at the sight of three gurried water-casks in its bottom, and a pile of wilted pumpkins in its bow, hung over the bulwarks in disorderly raptures.

　　Don Benito with his servant now appeared; his coming, perhaps, hastened by hearing the noise. Of him Captain Delano sought permission to serve out the water, so that all might share alike, and none injure themselves by unfair excess. But sensible,and,on Don Benito's account, kind as this offer was, it was received with what seemed impatience;as if aware that he lacked energy as a commander,Don Benito,with the true jealousy of weakness, resented as an affront any interference. So, at least,Captain Delano inferred.

　　In another moment the casks were being hoisted in,when some of the eager Negroes accidentally jostled Captain Delano, where he stood by the gangway;so that,unmindful of Don Benito,yielding to the impulse of the moment, with good-natured authority he bade the blacks stand back; to enforce his words making use of a half-mirthful, half-menacing gesture. Instantly the blacks paused, just where they were, each Negro and Negress suspended in his or her posture, exactly as the word had found them- for a few seconds continuing so-while, as between the responsive posts of a telegraph, an unknown syllable ran from man to man among the perched oakum-pickers. While Captain Delano's attention was fixed by this scene,suddenly the hatchet-polishers half rose,and a rapid cry came from Don Benito.

　　Thinking that at the signal of the Spaniard he was about to be massacred, Captain Delano would have sprung for his boat,but paused,as the oakum-pickers, dropping down into the crowd with earnest exclamations, forced every white and every Negro back, at the same moment, with gestures friendly and familiar,almost jocose,bidding him, in substance, not be a fool. Simultaneously the hatchet-polishers resumed their seats, quietly as so many tailors, and at once, as if nothing had happened, the work of hoisting in the casks was resumed, whites and blacks singing at the tackle.

　　Captain Delano glanced toward Don Benito. As he saw his meagre form in the act of recovering itself from reclining in the servant's arms, into which the agitated invalid had fallen, he could not but marvel at the panic by which himself had been surprised on the darting supposition that such a commander, who upon a legitimate occasion, so trivial, too, as it now appeared, could lose all self-command,was,with energetic iniquity,going to bring about his murder.

　　The casks being on deck,Captain Delano was handed a number of jars and cups by one of the steward's aides, who,in the name of Don Benito, entreated him to do as he had proposed:dole out the water. He complied, with republican impartiality as to this republican element, which always seeks one level, serving the oldest white no better than the youngest black;excepting,indeed,poor Don Benito,whose condition,if not rank, demanded an extra allowance. To him, in the first place, Captain Delano presented a fair pitcher of the fluid; but, thirsting as he was for fresh water, Don Benito quaffed not a drop until after several grave bows and salutes: a reciprocation of courtesies which the sight- loving Africans hailed with clapping of hands.

　　Two of the less wilted pumpkins being reserved for the cabin table, the residue were minced up on the spot for the general regalement. But the soft bread,sugar,and bottled cider,Captain Delano would have given the Spaniards alone, and in chief Don Benito; but the latter objected; which disinterestedness,on his part,not a little pleased the American; and so mouthfuls all around were given alike to whites and blacks; excepting one bottle of cider, which Babo insisted upon setting aside for his master.

　　Here it may be observed that as,on the first visit of the boat,the American had not permitted his men to board the ship, neither did he now;being unwilling to add to the confusion of the decks.

　　Not uninfluenced by the peculiar good humour at present prevailing, and for the time oblivious of any but benevolent thoughts, Captain Delano, who from recent indications counted upon a breeze within an hour or two at furthest, despatched the boat back to the sealer with orders for all the hands that could be spared immediately to set about rafting casks to the watering-place and filling them. Likewise he bade word be carried to his chief officer, that if against present expectation the ship was not brought to anchor by sunset, he need be under no concern, for as there was to be a full moon that night, he (Captain Delano) would remain on board ready to play the pilot, should the wind come soon or late.