The captains of the great liners lamented their luxurious staterooms converted into dormitories for the troops, their polished decks that had been turned into stables, their dining-room where they used to sit among people in dress suits and low-neck gowns, which had now to be sprayed with every class of disinfectant in order to repel the invasion of vermin, and the animal odors of so many men and beasts crowded together.
The decline of the ships appeared to be reflected in the bearing of their captains, more careless than before, worse dressed, with the military slovenliness of the trench-fighter, and with calloused hands as badly cared for as those of a stevedore.
Among the naval men also there were some who had completely neglected their appearance.

These were the commanders of "chaluteros," little ocean fishing steamers armed with a quickfirer, which had come into the Mediterranean to pursue the submersible.

They wore oilskins and tarpaulins, just like the North Sea fishermen, smacking of fuel and tempestuous water.

They would pass weeks and weeks on the sea whatever the weather, sleeping in the bottom of the hold that smelled offensively of rancid fish, keeping on patrol no matter how the tempest might roar, bounding from wave to wave like a cork from a bottle, in order to repeat the exploits of the ancient corsairs.
Ferragut had a relative in the army which was assembling at Salonica making ready for the inland march.

As he did not wish to go away without seeing the lad he passed several mornings making investigations in the offices of the general staff.
This relative was his nephew, a son of Blanes, the manufacturer of knit goods, who had fled from Barcelona at the outbreak of the war with other boys devoted to singing _Los Segadores_ and perturbing the tranquillity of the "Consul of Spain" sent by Madrid.