These veterans of the sea were accustomed to speak only of the freight cargoes, of the thousands and thousands of dollars gained in other times with only one round trip, and of the terrible rivalry of the steamship.
Ulysses kept hoping in vain that sometimes they would allude to the Nereids and other poetic beings that the _Triton_ had conjured around his promontory.

The Blanes had never seen these extraordinary creatures.

Their seas contained fish only.

They were cold, economical men of few words, friends of order and social preferment.

Their nephew suspected that they had the courage of men of the sea but without boasting or aggressiveness; their heroism was that of traders capable of suffering all kinds of adventures provided their stock ran no risks, but becoming wild beasts if any one attacked their riches.
The members of the Athenaeum were all old, the only masculine beings in the village.