XXX: On Duty explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Maritime Life and Adventure

  Davy's detailed account of waiting for sailing orders, navigating the river, and his role as a watchman on the ketch emphasizes the challenges and routines of maritime life.

• Morality and Hypocrisy

  Davy reflects on his own honesty and duty while spying on Narnton Court, and criticizes the hypocrisy of the gentry who abandon Christianity for pagan statues.

• Truth and Narrative Reliability

  Davy insists on his own righteousness and consistency, while also admitting to spying and using deception, highlighting the unreliable nature of his narration.

Characters to notice

• Davy Llewellyn

  Davy is frustrated by the delays in Barnstaple, keen to return home to Bardie and his parish duties, and takes on the role of watching Narnton Court for five shillings a week.

• Parson Chowne

  Parson Chowne frequently visits the ketch on his black mare, exerting control over Captain Bethel Jose and the crew, and is suspected by Davy of having dark reasons for lingering.

• Bardie

  Davy's heart yearns for Bardie, and he thinks of her while stuck in Barnstaple, longing to return home.

• Captain Bethel Jose

  Captain Bethel Jose is revealed to be a slave to Parson Chowne's will, unable to sail without the Parson's orders.

• Captain Fuzzy

  Fuzzy is part of the crew, pretending the ketch is not ready to sail, and Davy suspects he has a dark reason for lingering.

• Isaac Hutchings

  Old Ikey is mentioned as part of the crew, grinning along with Fuzzy at Davy's complaints.

Key passages

• “Parson Chowne (who never happened to neglect a single thing that did concern his interests, any more than he ever happened to forget an injury), twice or thrice a-week he came, mounted on his coal-black mare, to know what was going on with us.”

  Parson Chowne visited the ketch two or three times a week on his black mare, always attentive to his own interests and never forgetting a slight.

  Highlights Chowne's controlling and vengeful nature.

• “I saw (though the clumsy under-strappers meant me not to notice it) that Bethel Jose, our captain, was no more than a slave of the Parson’s.”

  Davy realized that Captain Bethel Jose was completely under Parson Chowne's control, despite the crew's attempts to hide it.

  Reveals the power dynamic between Chowne and the captain.

• “What is a man when outside his own country—a prophet, a magistrate, even a sailor, who has kept well in with his relations? All his old friends are there, longing to praise him, when they hear of good affairs; and as to his enemies—a man of my breadth of nature has none.”

  Davy reflects that a man's worth is tied to his home and reputation, where friends praise him and he claims to have no enemies.

  Shows Davy's pride in his local standing and his desire to return home.

• “It became my duty now to attend to the getting out of the limestone; and I fetched it up with a swing that shook every leaf of the Rose of Devon.”

  Davy took on the task of unloading limestone from the ketch, doing it with such vigor that the ship shook.

  Illustrates Davy's physical labor and his determination to earn his pay.

• “I knelt in the very smallest form that nature would allow of, and with one hand held a branch to keep the boat from surging.”

  Davy crouched low in the boat, holding a branch to steady it, as he prepared to shoot wild ducks.

  Describes Davy's patient and stealthy approach to hunting.