Hearing this, Lindsay Noseworth frowned in perplexity.
* * * * * * * * * *
The "this" which Lindsay heard was Chick Counterfly insulting Darby Suckling's work ethic. That upset Lindsay. Remember, Lindsay is the guy who just held Darby over the side of the Inconvenience for doing nothing, really. He threatened a member of the crew's life because that crew member "spoke informally." But now Lindsay acts sad and confused that Chick Counterfly has called Darby a saphead for risking his life for The Man. Lindsay is telling on himself.
For Lindsay, it's okay for a person in charge to threaten the life of the workers for any thing that he thinks might interfere with the work. One of those things that might interfere with the work is one of the workers telling another worker that they're an idiot for accepting the mortal dangers of work that has little meaning in the overall scheme of things. To possibly trade your life for a mere wind reading when, from the deck of the gondola, you can get a pretty good idea of what the wind's doing is a sucker's game. But voicing that reality is not something a foreman or manager or owner or Second-in-Command can allow. Because it goes against the work. And to the person in charge, the work, or the bottom line, is more important than the worker.
Chick Counterfly has just brought the stink of unionizing onto the Inconvenience with a casual insult.
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