the quarter-deck, was disposed to be absolute lord and master on board
of his ship. He appears, moreover, to have had no great opinion, from
the first, of the persons embarked with him--He had stood by with surly
contempt while they vaunted so bravely to Mr. Astor of all they could
do and all they could undergo; how they could face all weathers, put up
with all kinds of fare, and even eat dogs with a relish, when no better
food was to be had. He had set them down as a set of landlubbers and
braggadocios, and was disposed to treat them accordingly. Mr. Astor was,
in his eyes, his only real employer, being the father of the enterprise,
who furnished all funds and bore all losses. The others were mere agents
and subordinates, who lived at his expense. He evidently had but a
narrow idea of the scope and nature of the enterprise, limiting his
views merely to his part of it; everything beyond the concerns of
his ship was out of his sphere; and anything that interfered with the
routine of his nautical duties put him in a passion.

The partners, on the other hand, had been brought up in the service
of the Northwest Company, and in a profound idea of the importance,
dignity, and authority of a partner. They already began to consider
themselves on a par with the M'Tavishes, the M'Gillivrays, the
Frobishers, and the other magnates of the Northwest, whom they had been
accustomed to look up to as the great ones of the earth; and they were
a little disposed, perhaps, to wear their suddenly-acquired honors with
some air of pretension. Mr. Astor, too, had put them on their mettle
with respect to the captain, describing him as a gunpowder fellow who
would command his ship in fine style, and, if there was any fighting to
do, would "blow all out of the water."

Thus prepared to regard each other with no very cordial eye, it is not
to be wondered at that the parties soon came into collision. On the very