l building on the premises as a
lock-up for British sailors who got into trouble or refused to do duty
on their respective ships. When the vessels were ready for sea, the
sailors would be put on board and all the expenses deducted from their
wages. So we were dressed up again and marched over to the consul's
pen. The same trouble about the food occurred there. If they had made
just one more mistake we certainly should have starved to death. In a
few days we were marched to the consulate and then returned to the
Madagascar. Our experience on shore had been a novelty but not
entirely a pleasant one. A warm reception was given us on the
frigate--twenty-eight days each of solitary confinement on bread and
water, twenty-one days on the black-list and lying in irons from
sunset until sunrise. The value of the lost boat and all expenses,
including the reward, was to be deducted from our wages, and, besides,
we would have to pay for a new outfit of clothing. At nine dollars a
month, it would be some time before our accounts would be squared up.
Jim and I swore point-blank that we knew nothing about the boat, and
they never got it back. Somebody was ahead a new boat, anyhow. I never
paid my share of the loss, either. Matt, the half-breed, was caught in
a coffee-saloon before ten o'clock of the same morning and at once
taken back to the ship. On our arrival he was doing "solitary." The
greenhorn was the only one of the party to get away. Aft, on the lower
or third deck, was the midshipmen's and clerks' mess-room, on one side
of the deck. Abaft that was a bulkhead or partition which left a space
to the stern that was used as a store-room for the admiral's and
captain's supplies. In there was also a room used as the "solitary."
Forward of the partition was where the prisoners were kept in irons.
Iron bars ten feet in length, a knot on one end, a padlock on the
other, and a big lot of shackles completed the outfit. The men would
sit on deck in a row, each one placing a shackle on each ankle. The
first man would run the end of the bar through the eyes of his shackle
and then the next would do the same, the padlock was fastened, and we
would be secure for the night. The bar lay underneath, resting on
deck. Walking or standing was impossible. The midshipmen and clerks
swung their hammocks above us. Once in a while we would rap on the
partition and, through the crack, would inquire about Matt's health
and comfort, "If the hardtack and wa