On deck it was what I have described--a nightmare spawn of creatures, assumably human, but malformed, mentally and physically, into caricatures of men.

Yes, it was an unusual crew; and that Mr.Pike and Mr.Mellaire could whip it into the efficient shape necessary to work this vast and intricate and beautiful fabric of a ship was beyond all seeming of possibility.
Depressed as I was by what I had just witnessed on deck, there came to me, as I leaned back in my chair and opened the second volume of George Moore's _Hail and Farewell_, a premonition that the voyage was to be disastrous.

But then, as I looked about the room, measured its generous space, realized that I was more comfortably situated than I had ever been on any passenger steamer, I dismissed foreboding thoughts and caught a pleasant vision of myself, through weeks and months, catching up with all the necessary reading which I had so long neglected.
Once, I asked Wada if he had seen the crew.

No, he hadn't, but the steward had said that in all his years at sea this was the worst crew he had ever seen.
"He say, all crazy, no sailors, rotten," Wada said.

"He say all big fools and bime by much trouble.