Chapter 10

by Herman Melville

　　The next day an incident served to confirm Billy Budd in hisincredulity as to the Dansker's strange summing-up of the casesubmitted. The ship at noon, going large before the wind, was rolling onher course, and he, below at dinner and engaged in some sportful talkwith the members of his mess, chanced in a sudden lurch to spill theentire contents of his soup-pan upon the new scrubbed deck. Claggart,the Master-at-arms, official rattan in hand, happened to be passingalong the battery in a bay of which the mess was lodged, and the greasyliquid streamed just across his path. Stepping over it, he wasproceeding on his way without comment, since the matter was nothing totake notice of under the circumstances, when he happened to observe whoit was that had done the spilling. His countenance changed. Pausing, hewas about to ejaculate something hasty at the sailor, but checkedhimself, and pointing down to the streaming soup, playfully tapped himfrom behind with his rattan, saying in a low musical voice peculiar tohim at times, "Handsomely done, my lad! And handsome is as handsome didit too!" And with that passed on. Not noted by Billy, as not comingwithin his view, was the involuntary smile, or rather grimace, thataccompanied Claggart's equivocal words. Aridly it drew down the thincorners of his shapely mouth. But everybody taking his remark as meantfor humourous, and at which therefore as coming from a superior theywere bound to laugh "with counterfeited glee," acted accordingly; andBilly tickled, it may be, by the allusion to his being the handsomesailor, merrily joined in; then addressing his messmates exclaimed,"There now, who says that Jimmy Legs is down on me!" "And who said hewas, Beauty?" demanded one Donald with some surprise. Whereat theForetopman looked a little foolish, recalling that it was only oneperson, Board-her-in-the-smoke, who had suggested what to him was thesmoky idea that this Master-at-arms was in any peculiar way hostile tohim. Meantime that functionary, resuming his path, must have momentarilyworn some expression less guarded than that of the bitter smile, andusurping the face from the heart, some distorting expression perhaps;for a drummer-boy heedlessly frolicking along from the oppositedirection and chancing to come into light collision with his person wasstrangely disconcerted by his aspect. Nor was the impression lessenedwhen the official, impulsively giving him a sharp cut with the rattan,vehemently exclaimed, "Look where you go!"