The important thing for him was to continue treading the deck of the vessel.
The captain had to give in.

This old fellow represented a remnant of his past.

He could betake himself from time to time to the galley to talk over the far-away days in which they first met.
And Caragol retired, content with his success.
"As for those Frenchmen," he said before departing, "just leave them to me.

They must be good people....

We'll just see what they say about my rice dishes." In the course of the week the _Mare Nostrum_ was de-organized and re-manned.