art, as well as he possibly
can."

Ben had consequently plenty to do; but then he reaped the reward of his
doing. Sailors are often paid in a glass of grog for any work they do,
and they are satisfied; but it was generally known that Ben had a
widowed mother, to whom he wished to send home money; and therefore Ben
was always paid in coin, and no one grudged it to him, knowing how well
it would be employed.

A sailor's life is often a very rough one; but when people are thrown
together for a cruise of four years, as were the crew of the Ajax,
provided always they have a good captain and judicious officers, they
wonderfully rub the rough edges off each other, and a kind and brotherly
feeling springs up among them, which often lasts to the end of their
lives. Such was the feeling which existed among the officers and ship's
company of the Ajax. The officers treated the men with kindness and
consideration, and the men obeyed their officers with alacrity.

Hitherto, the Pacific appeared deserving of the name bestowed on it.
For many months the Ajax had experienced only fine weather.
Undoubtedly, gales had blown, and heavy rains had fallen, during that
period; but the ship had sailed across to the west, while they occurred
on the eastern part; and afterwards, when she went back towards the
American coast, the rains fell and the gales blew on the west. This
was, however, not always to be so. One morning, when Ben went on deck
to keep his watch, he found the sails hanging down against the masts,
and the sea without the slightest ripple to break its mirror-like
surface. Every now and then, however, it seemed slowly to rise like the
bosom of some huge monster breathing in its sleep, and a smooth low wave
heaved up under the ship's keel, and glided slowly away, to be followed
at long intervals by other waves of the same character. As they passed,
the ship rolled from side to side, or pitched gently into the water, and
the sails, hitherto so motionless, flapped loudly against the masts with
a sound like that of musketry. The heat was very great; the seamen,
overcome by it, went about their various duties with much less than
their usual alacrity. The smoke curled slowly up from the
galley-funnel, wreathing itself in festoons about the fore-rigging,
where it hung, unable, it seemed, to rise higher. Eight bells struck in
the forenoon watch, the boatswain's whistle piped to dinner, and the
mess-men were seen lazily moving a