This settling down was made easy for him by the friendly character of his
immediate superior--the chief. Powell could not defend himself from some
sympathy for that thick, bald man, comically shaped, with his crimson
complexion and something pathetic in the rolling of his very movable
black eyes in an apparently immovable head, who was so tactfully ready to
take his competency for granted.
There can be nothing more reassuring to a young man tackling his life's
work for the first time. Mr. Powell, his mind at ease about himself, had
time to observe the people around with friendly interest. Very early in
the beginning of the passage, he had discovered with some amusement that
the marriage of Captain Anthony was resented by those to whom Powell
(conscious of being looked upon as something of an outsider) referred in
his mind as 'the old lot.'
They had the funny, regretful glances, intonations, nods of men who had
seen other, better times. What difference it could have made to the
bo'sun and the carpenter Powell could not very well understand. Yet
these two pulled long faces and even gave hostile glances to the poop.
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