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03 - The Island of Dr Moreau - H G Wells · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

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  Speaker 1: Three the strange face. We left the cabin and found
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  Speaker 1: a man at the campion, obstructing our way. He was
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  Speaker 1: standing on the ladder with his back to us, peering
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  Speaker 1: over the combing of the hatchway. He was, I could see,
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  Speaker 1: and a shapen man, short, broad and clumsy, with a
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  Speaker 1: crooked back, a hairy neck, and a head sunk between
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  Speaker 1: his shoulders. He was dressed in dark blue serge and
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  Speaker 1: had peculiarly thick, coarse black hair. I heard the unseen
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  Speaker 1: dogs growl furiously and forthwith. He ducked back, coming into
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  Speaker 1: contact with the hand I put out to find him
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  Speaker 1: off from myself. He turned with animal swiftness in some
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  Speaker 1: indefinable way. The black face thus flashed upon me shocked
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  Speaker 1: me profoundly. It was a singularly deformed one. The facial
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  Speaker 1: part projected forming something dimly suggestive of a muzzle, and
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  Speaker 1: the huge, half open mouth showed as big white teeth
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  Speaker 1: as I had ever seen in a human mouth. His
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  Speaker 1: eyes were blood shot at the edges, with scarcely a
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  Speaker 1: rim of white round the hazel pupils. There was a
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  Speaker 1: curious glow of excitement in his face. Confound you, said Montgomery,
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  Speaker 1: Why the devil. Don't you get out of the way.
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  Speaker 1: The black faced man started aside without a word. I
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  Speaker 1: went on up the companion, staring at him instinctively as
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  Speaker 1: I did so, Montgomery stayed at the foot for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: You have no bitterness here, you know, he said, in
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  Speaker 1: a deliberate tone. Your place is forward. The black faced
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  Speaker 1: man cowered, nay, won't have me forward. He spoke slowly,
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  Speaker 1: with a queer, hoarse quality in his voice. Won't have
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  Speaker 1: you forward, said Montgomery in a menacing tone. But I
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  Speaker 1: tell you to go. He was on the brink of
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  Speaker 1: saying something further, then looked up at me suddenly, and
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  Speaker 1: followed me up the ladder. I paused half way through
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  Speaker 1: the hatchway, looking back, still astonished beyond measure at the
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  Speaker 1: grotesque ugliness of this black faced creature. I had never
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  Speaker 1: beheld such a repulse of an extraordinary face before, And yet,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: if the contradiction is credible, I experienced the same time
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  Speaker 1: an odd feeling that in some way I had already
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  Speaker 1: encountered exactly the features and gestures that now amazed me. Afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: it occurred to me that probably I had seen him
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  Speaker 1: as I was lifted aboard and yet that scarcely satisfied
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  Speaker 1: my suspicion of a previous acquaintance. Yet, how one could
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  Speaker 1: have set eyes on so singular a face and yet
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  Speaker 1: have forgotten the precise occasion passed my imagination. Montgomery's movement
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  Speaker 1: to follow me released my attention, and I turned and
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  Speaker 1: looked about me at the flushed deck of the little schooner.
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  Speaker 1: I was already half prepared by the sounds I had
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  Speaker 1: heard for what I saw, certainly, I never beheld a
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  Speaker 1: deck so dirty. It was littered with scraps of carrot,
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  Speaker 1: shreds of green stuff, and indescribable filth. Fastened by chains
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  Speaker 1: to the mainmast were a number of grisly staghounds, who
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  Speaker 1: now began leaping and barking at me. And by the mizzen,
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  Speaker 1: a huge puma was cramped in a little iron cage,
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  Speaker 1: far too small even to give a turning room. Farther
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  Speaker 1: under the starboard bulwark were some big hutches containing a
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  Speaker 1: number of rabbits, and a solitary lama was squeezed in
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  Speaker 1: a mere box of a cage. Forward, the dogs were
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  Speaker 1: muzzled by leather straps. The only human being on deck
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  Speaker 1: was a gaunt and silent sailor at the wheel. The
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  Speaker 1: patched and dirty bankers were tense before the wind, and
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  Speaker 1: up aloft the little ship seemed carrying every sail she had.
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  Speaker 1: The sky was clear, the sun midway down the western sky.
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  Speaker 1: Long waves capped by the breeze with froth were running
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  Speaker 1: with us. We went past the steersman to the taffrail,
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  Speaker 1: and saw the water come foaming under the stern, and
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  Speaker 1: the bubbles go dancing and vanishing in her wake. I
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  Speaker 1: turned and surveyed the unsavory length of the ship. Is
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  Speaker 1: this an ocean menagerie? Said? I look like it? Said Montgomery.
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  Speaker 1: What are these beasts for merchandise? Curios? Does the captain
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  Speaker 1: think he is going to sell them somewhere in the
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  Speaker 1: south seas? It looked like it, dothn't it, said Montgomery,
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  Speaker 1: and turned towards the wake again. Suddenly we heard a
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  Speaker 1: yelp and a volley of furious blasphemy from the companion hatchway,
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  Speaker 1: and the deformed man with the black face came up hurriedly.
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  Speaker 1: He was immediately followed by a heavy, red haired man
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  Speaker 1: in a white cap. At the sight of the former,
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  Speaker 1: the staghounds, who had all tired of barking at me.
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  Speaker 1: By this time became furiously excited, howling and leaping against
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  Speaker 1: their chains. The black hesitated before them, and this gave
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  Speaker 1: the red haired man time to come up with him
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  Speaker 1: and deliver a tremendous blow between the shoulder blades. The
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  Speaker 1: poor devil went down like a felled ox, and rolled
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  Speaker 1: in the dirt among the furiously excited dogs. It was
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  Speaker 1: lucky for him that they were muzzled. The red haired
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  Speaker 1: man gave a yop of exultation and stood staggering and
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  Speaker 1: as it seemed to me, in serious danger of either
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  Speaker 1: going backwards down the companion hatchway or forwards upon his victim.
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  Speaker 1: So soon as the second man had appeared, Montgomery had
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  Speaker 1: started forward sturdy. On there ah, he cried in a
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  Speaker 1: tone of remonstrance. A couple of sailors appeared on the forecastle.
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  Speaker 1: The black faced man, howling in a singular voice, rolled
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  Speaker 1: about under the feet of the dogs. No one attempted
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  Speaker 1: to help him. The brutes did their best to worry him,
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  Speaker 1: butting their muzzles at him. There was a quick dance
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  Speaker 1: of their lithe gray figured bodies over the clumsy, prostrate figure.
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  Speaker 1: The sailors forward, shouted as though it was admirable sport.
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery gave an angry exclamation and went striding down the deck,
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  Speaker 1: and I followed him. The black faced man scrambled up
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  Speaker 1: and staggered forward, going and leaning over the bulwark by
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  Speaker 1: the main shrouds, where he remained panting and glaring over
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  Speaker 1: his shoulders at the dogs. The red haired man laughed
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  Speaker 1: a satisfied laugh. Look here, Captain, said Montgomery, with his
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  Speaker 1: lisp a little accentuated, gripping the elbows of the red
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  Speaker 1: haired man. This won't do. I stood behind Montgomery. The
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  Speaker 1: captain came half round and regarded him with the dull
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  Speaker 1: and solemn eyes of a drunken man. Wah won't do,
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  Speaker 1: he said, and added, after looking sleepily into Montgomery's face
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  Speaker 1: for a minute, last ditch sore bones. With a sudden movement,
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  Speaker 1: he shook his arms free, and, after two ineffectual attempts,
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  Speaker 1: stuck his freckled fists into his side pockets. That man's,
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  Speaker 1: the passenger, said Montgomery. I'd advise you to keep your
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  Speaker 1: hands off him. Go do well, said the captain loudly.
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  Speaker 1: He suddenly turned and staggered towards the side. Do what
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  Speaker 1: I like on my own ship, he said. I think
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery might have left him then, seeing the brute was drunk,
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  Speaker 1: But he only turned a shade paler and followed the
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  Speaker 1: captain to the bulwarks. Look you here, captain, he said,
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  Speaker 1: that man of mine is not to be ill treated.
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  Speaker 1: He hath been heaved ever thinth he came aboard for
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  Speaker 1: a minute. Alcoholic fumes kept the captain speechless. Blasted sow
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  Speaker 1: bones was all he considered necessary. I could see that
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  Speaker 1: Montgomery had one of those slow, pertinacious tempers that were
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  Speaker 1: warm day after day to a white heat, and never
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  Speaker 1: again cool to forgiveness. And I saw too that this
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  Speaker 1: quarrel had been some time growing. The man's drunk, said
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  Speaker 1: I perhaps officiously, it'll do no good. Montgomery gave an
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  Speaker 1: ugly twist to his drooping lip. He's always drunk. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think that? Excuseeth a thoughting? Pasengers, my ship began
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  Speaker 1: the captain, waving his hand unsteadily towards the cages. Was
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  Speaker 1: a clean ship. Look at it now? It was certainly
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  Speaker 1: anything but clean, crew, continued the captain, Clean, respectable crew.
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  Speaker 1: You agreed to take the beasts. I wish I'd never
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  Speaker 1: set eyes on your infernal island. What the devil want
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  Speaker 1: beasts for on an island like that? Then that man
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  Speaker 1: of yours understood. He was a man. He's a lunatic,
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  Speaker 1: and he hadn't no business aft. Do you think the
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  Speaker 1: whole damn ship belongs to you? Your Tailith began to Haye,
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  Speaker 1: the poor devil Athunith he came aboard. That's just what
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  Speaker 1: he is. He's a devil, an ugly devil. My men
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  Speaker 1: can't stand him. I can't stand him. None of us
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  Speaker 1: can stand him, nor you either. Montgomery turned away. You
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  Speaker 1: leave that man alone, anyhow, he said, nodding his head
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  Speaker 1: as he spoke. But the captain meant to quarrel now,
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  Speaker 1: he raised his voice. If he comes this end of
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  Speaker 1: the ship again, I'll cut his insides out. I tell you,
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  Speaker 1: cut out his blasted insides. Who are you to tell
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  Speaker 1: me what I'm to do? I tell you, I'm the
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  Speaker 1: captain of this ship, captain and owner. I'm the law here.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you the law and the prophets. I bargain
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  Speaker 1: to take a man and his attendants to and from
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  Speaker 1: Erika and bring back some animals. I never bargain to
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  Speaker 1: carry a mad devil and a silly saw bones bab well,
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  Speaker 1: never mind what he called Montgomery. I saw the latter
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  Speaker 1: take a step forward and interposed, He's drunk, said I.
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  Speaker 1: The captain began some abuse, even fouler than the last.
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  Speaker 1: Shut up, I said, turning on him sharply, for I
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  Speaker 1: had seen danger in Montgomery's white face. With that, I
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  Speaker 1: brought the downpour on myself. However, I was glad to
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  Speaker 1: avert what was uncommonly near a scuffle, even at the
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  Speaker 1: price of the captain's drunken ill will. I do not
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  Speaker 1: think I have ever heard quite so much vile language
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  Speaker 1: come in a continuous stream from any man's lips before.
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  Speaker 1: Though I have frequented eccentric company enough, I found some
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  Speaker 1: of it hard to endure, though I am a mild
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  Speaker 1: tempered man. But certainly, when I told the captain to
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  Speaker 1: shut up, I had forgotten that I was merely a
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  Speaker 1: bit of human flots cut off from my resources, and
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  Speaker 1: with by fare, unpaid, a mere casual dependent on the
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  Speaker 1: bounty or speculative enterprise of the ship. He reminded me
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  Speaker 1: of it with considerable vigor, But at any rate, I
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  Speaker 1: prevented a fight