The second mate sprang down the poop-ladder and darted past me along the deck.

The mate, still on the slender, white-painted bridge, that seemed no more than a spider thread, surprised me by the activity with which he dashed along the bridge to the 'midship house, leaped upon the canvas-covered long- boat, and swung outboard where he might see.

Before the men could clamber upon the rail the second mate was among them, and it was he who flung a coil of line overboard.
What impressed me particularly was the mental and muscular superiority of these two officers.

Despite their age--the mate sixty-nine and the second mate at least fifty--their minds and their bodies had acted with the swiftness and accuracy of steel springs.

They were potent.