Part 20 (2/2)
”I'll do my best, sir,” I answered, for I saas not a man to be trifled with; ”but I am not fit for much at present”
”You contrived to live down in the hold in an extraordinary e it?”
I told him in a feords
”Another likely story,” he remarked ”In other words, you stole the shi+p's provisions as long as you could get at them, or you had an accomplice who kept you fed--he'll be an to treh the captain didn't uessed that he pointed at him I was much inclined to say who I was, and to speak of Mr butterfield, but shame prevented me, and the captain o forward,” he said; ”look out sharp, get back your strength, and ning to hold any further conversation with so insignificant a person as he considered ered like a drunken e to reach the side, and catch hold of a belaying-pin I remained there until the captain turned round, when, afraid of his looks, I onceno trouble to help hed at me; till To over, tookto the forehatch, where he bade oes the baby and his nurse,” said one of thehihed in chorus
The thirdover me, ordered him back to his work Mark made an attempt to join me, but was sent to perform some task or other, and I was left alone and forlorn to endure the gibes of my hardhearted shi+pmates
Caesar, however, came out of his caboose, and whispered as he passed--
”Neber you rinned and pointed with his finger, so that the rest fancied that he was onlythis, the fresh air and the necessity of exerting ood, and after I had taken soht me when the men went into their berth to dinner, I felt quite another creature
At nightfall I was allowed to slink into my bunk, of which Tom still refused to deprive me
”I'm very here I am I'm accustoed hie places
The next day I was still better, and after this I rapidly recoveredthe cuffs and kicks and rope's-endings I frequently received, and the hard work I had to perforain as dirty as they hen I came out of the hold, and torn and tattered besides
”Neveryou out in a suit of et into colder latitudes It doesn'told clothes now the weather is so hot”
Mark regretted that he could not help me, as he had only the clothes he stood up in, which would have been aler h the rest of the crew ill-treated Mark and me, and Tom also when they had the chance, the captain and officers tyrannised over them in the most brutal fashi+on It was no unusual occurrence for the first o about his work in a way to please him, and both captain and mates swore at the men on all occasions in the most fearful way
At first I was horrified, but in tiot as much accustomed to it as they were, and was only thankful that the oaths were not acco
All this time the discipline was really very slack, and the men behaved to each other as they pleased, and never failed to neglect their duty whenever the mates' eyes were off the, the treat fiercely, if not loudly, when the quality of their provisions had begun to fall off At first the food had been pretty good, but it now became worse and worse, and the er At last, when some rancid pork had been served out with musty peas and weevilly biscuits, the men went aft in a body, headed by the boatswain, Sass Jowler, and Growles, ere deputed to be spokes
”I axes you, Captain Longfleet, whether you think this ere stuff is fit food for British sea up a piece of the pork at the end of a two-pronged fork
”Itbehind the rest
”And I wants to know, in the name of the crehether this 'ere biscuit as is all alive with ots, is the stuff we poor fellows forward should be made to put into ourabout, you mutinous rascals?” cried the captain; ”stop a bit, and I'll answer you”
Saying this, he sprang back into the cabin, and while the , he reappeared with a pistol in the one hand and a cutlass in the other I observed that he had a second pistol in his belt