The mate, for his part, gave no indication of harboring
the assault that Billy had made upon him other than to
assign the most dangerous or disagreeable duties of the ship
to the mucker whenever it was possible to do so; but the
result of this was to hasten Billy's nautical education, and
keep him in excellent physical trim.
All traces of alcohol had long since vanished from the
young man's system. His face showed the effects of his
enforced abstemiousness in a marked degree. The red, puffy,
blotchy complexion had given way to a clear, tanned skin;
bright eyes supplanted the bleary, bloodshot things that had
given the bestial expression to his face in the past. His
features, always regular and strong, had taken on a peculiarly
refined dignity from the salt air, the clean life, and
the dangerous occupation of the deep-sea sailor, that would
have put Kelly's gang to a pinch to have recognized their
erstwhile crony had he suddenly appeared in their midst in
the alley back of the feed-store on Grand Avenue.
With the new life Billy found himself taking on a new
character. He surprised himself singing at his work--he
whose whole life up to now had been devoted to dodging
honest labor--whose motto had been: The world owes me
a living, and it's up to me to collect it.
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