Bartleby the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street

BENITO CERENO 115
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. Simul-
taneously 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 aids,
who, in the name of his captain, 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, thirst-
ing as he was for it, the Spaniard 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 whites alone, and in chief Don Benito ; but