Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 20, 1896 - Travels and excursion, Volume III

THE EBB-TIDE
like lame geese along the beach in a disheartened
silence. It was towards the town they moved ;
towards the town whence smoke arose, where
happier folk were breakfasting; and as they went,
their hungry eyes were upon all sides, but they were
only scouting for a meal.
A small and dingy schooner lay snug against the
quay, with which it was connected by a plank. On
the forward deck, under a spot of awning, five
Kanakas who made up the crew, were squatted
round a basin of fried feis, 1 and drinking coffee from
tin mugs.
' Eight bells : knock off for breakfast ! ' cried the
captain with a miserable heartiness. ' Never tried
this craft before ; positively my first appearance ;
guess I '11 draw a bumper house.'
He came close up to where the plank rested on
the grassy quay ; turned his back upon the schooner,
and began to whistle that lively air, * The Irish
Washerwoman.' It caught the ears of the Kanaka
seamen like a preconcerted signal ; with one accord
they looked up from their meal and crowded to the
ship's side, fei in hand and munching as they looked.
Even as a poor brown Pyrenean bear dances in the
streets of English towns under his master's baton ;
even so, but with how much more of spirit and
precision, the captain footed it in time to his own
whistling, and his long morning shadow capered
beyond him on the grass. The Kanakas smiled on
the performance ; Herrick looked on heavy-eyed,
1 Fei is the hill banana.
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