One day without moving was costing more than the two men could earn in a month.
"This can't go on!" Toni would protest.
His indignation took him ashore several times in search of the captain.
He was afraid to speak to him, considering it a lack of discipline to meddle in the management of the boat, so he invented the most absurd pretext in order to run afoul of Ferragut.
He looked with antipathy at the porter of the _albergo_ because he always told him that the captain had just gone out.

This individual with the air of a procurer must be greatly to blame for the immovability of the steamer; his heart told him so.
Because he couldn't come to blows with the man, and because he could not stand seeing him laugh deceitfully while watching him wait hour after hour in the vestibule, he took up his station in the street, spying on Ferragut's entrances and exits.
The three times that he did succeed in speaking with the captain, the result was always the same.

The captain was as greatly delighted to see him as if he were an apparition from the past with whom he could communicate the joy of his overflowing happiness.
He would listen to his mate, congratulating himself that all was going so well on the ship, and when Toni, in stuttering tones, would venture to ask the date of departure, Ulysses would hide his uncertainty under a tone of prudence.

He was awaiting a most valuable cargo; the longer they waited for it, the more money they were going to gain....

But his words were not convincing to Toni.