When I crawled out, he kicked me again and kept it up. When his
foot got tired he used his fist. 'There!' says he between his teeth, 'I
cal'late that'll learn you that crockery costs money.'
"It did. I never broke anything else aboard that ship. Cummin's was a
bully and a sneak to everybody but the old man, and a toady to him. He
never struck me or anybody else when the skipper was around, but there
was nothin' too mean for him to do when he thought he had a safe chance.
And he took pains to let me know that if I ever told a soul at home
he'd kill me. I'd learned by experience, not only about the price
of crockery, but other things, things that a youngster ought not to
learn--how to hate a man so that you can wait years to get even with
him, for one. I'm sorry I learned that, and," dryly, "so was Cummin's,
later. But I did learn, once and for all, not to take folks on
trust, nor to size 'em up by their outside, or the noise they make in
prayer-meetin', nor the way they can spread soft soap when they think
it's necessary. I'd learned that, and I'd learned it early enough to be
of use to me, which was a mercy.
"It was a hard lesson for me," he added, reflectively; "but I managed to
come out of it without lettin' it bitter my whole life.
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