ter agreed with him, and how would
he like a nice beefsteak?" As Matt was in the "solitary," Jim and I
had to wait for our turn. So we were doing the black-list and iron
punishment together. About the time my black-list was half over I got
into more trouble.

The captain lived on shore, near the Sugar Loaf. His boat had left the
ship and some article which he wanted had been forgotten. Such a
dereliction was simply terrible. The captain of a man-of-war in those
days was a trifle more despotic than the Czar of Russia. A cutter with
fourteen oars was "called away" in a hurry to rectify the mistake, but a
man was short for the crew. The lieutenant gave orders for some one to
get into the boat. Just then I was working by the companion-way--the
ladder on ship's side. Much to my surprise, I was told to be more active
in obeying orders and to get into the cutter. I did so. My being a
prisoner at the time seemed not to have been taken into consideration.
It was quite a distance to shore down the bay. The man next me on the
thwart gave me a nudge and said, "Mike, my mon, show 'em your 'eels on
shore." The others near me also had something to say, much to my
annoyance, as I did not want any one to suspect what my intentions were.
We landed soon after the captain's boat did. There being no midshipman
in the cutter, we all stepped on shore. One of the men spoke to the
coxswain in a low tone, and I was ordered back into the cutter. I
refused and stated that I was going to a saloon for a drink. I walked
away rather quickly. Looking back, I saw that all the men excepting one
were running after me. Then I ran as fast as possible towards a steep
rocky hill. I was gaining on them rapidly. Some perpendicular rocks
prevented my going farther in that direction. Then I turned around,
intending to run down the hill and break through the crowd for another
race. Just as I got near them, I stumbled, falling on my face and
rolling over into a hole full of muddy water. I was badly hurt and my
nose was bleeding freely. They took me to the cutter and pulled off to
the frigate.

On our arrival all had to go on deck and stand in a line toeing a seam,
to be searched for smuggled liquor by the ship's corporal, the
lieutenant looking on. Then the coxswain reported me for attempting to
run away. The lieutenant saw that I was covered with mud and blood. He
asked me if the report was true. I answered "Yes," and told him that the
whole boat's crew were a d