He had seen blacks as tolerated as these, lined up and whipped by _Mister_ Haggin.

They occupied an intermediate place in the scheme of things, and they were to be watched in case they did not keep their place.

He accorded them room, but he did not accord them equality.

At the best, he could be stand-offishly considerate of them.
He made thorough examination of the galley, a rude affair, open on the open deck, exposed to wind and rain and storm, a small stove that was not even a ship's stove, on which somehow, aided by strings and wedges, commingled with much smoke, two blacks managed to cook the food for the four-score persons on board.
Next, he was interested by a strange proceeding on the part of the boat's crew.

Upright pipes, serving as stanchions, were being screwed into the top of the _Arangi's_ rail so that they served to support three strands of barbed wire that ran completely around the vessel, being broken only at the gangway for a narrow space of fifteen inches.