Noll raised his big head and looked at Dan'l bleakly. "Mr. Tobey," he said, "you know the men. Who is there that measures up to our wants, d'you think?" Dan'l started to speak; then he hesitated, changed his mind.... Said at last: "I'm senior officer here, sir. But--I've not the experience that Mr. Tichel has, for instance. Perhaps he has some one in mind." Noll nodded. "All right, Mr. Tichel. If you have, say out." James Tichel grinned faintly. "I have. But you'll not mind me, so no matter." "Out with it, any fashion," Noll insisted. "Silva, then," said Tichel. "Silva!" He looked from one of them to another. Noll's face was set in opposition; Dan'l's was neutral; Willis Cox was obviously amazed. "Silva," said old Tichel, for the third time. "He's a Portugee.... All right. But he's a good man; he knows the boat; he's worked with Mr. Ham. And he can take the boat and make a harpooner out of one or the other of two men in her...." He stopped, unused to such an outbreak. "That's my say, leastwise," he finished. For a moment, no one spoke. Then Noll looked toward Dan'l again. "Now, Mr. Tobey," he said. Dan'l leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I've nothing against Silva," he said quietly. "He's a good man. The best man in the crew, I'm thinking.... But.... "The man I have in mind is Roy Kilcup. No less." Noll's eyes widened; and old Tichel snapped: "He's never been in a boat." "I know the boy," Dan'l insisted. "I'll undertake to teach him all he needs know in a week. He knows boats; he has guts and heart.... All he needs to know is whales...." "Aye," said Willis Cox scornfully. "Aye, that's all. But who does know them?" Dan'l smiled. "You might well enough ask, Mr. Cox." Willis flushed painfully. "He's just a kid," he protested. "You were almost three months older when you struck your first whale, if I mind right," said Dan'l pleasantly. Big Noll Wing interrupted harshly: "That's enough. Silva and Roy. Who would you have, Mr. Cox?" "Only one man aboard," said Willis. "That's who.... I've no mind for conundrums." "Brander," said Cox. "Brander!" Noll seemed to slump a little in his chair; he smiled wearily. Dan'l Tobey thought the captain had never looked so old. His big fist on the table moved a little from side to side, then was still. In the silence, they all heard the voice of Roy Kilcup, from the deck above, crying to Faith in a trembling whisper: "Dan'l wants to make me mate, Sis! He wants to make me mate...." His voice was so tremulous, so obviously the voice of a boy, that every man of them save Dan'l Tobey smiled. Noll said slowly: "He's over youthful yet, Dan'l. Teach him the trade.... Happen, some day, we'll see...." Dan'l was betrayed by anger into indiscretion. "Over youthful, that may be," he exclaimed. "But not a Portugee; and not a beach comber...."