men, if you ever see
anything done like that, you may open your eyes with astonishment. I
gained some credit for my performance, though there are people, I own,
who do not believe in the fact, which is not surprising, as it isn't
every day in the week that a ship recovers a topsail which has been
blown away in a gale of wind."

There was a considerable amount of cachinnations along the deck outside,
while a gruff voice grunted out, "Well, bo'sun, that is a jolly
crammer;" at which Mr Johnson looked highly indignant, and we were
afraid that he would not continue his narrative, but a glance at
Gogles's deliciously credulous and yet astonished countenance, as he sat
with his eyes and mouth wide open, staring with all his might, seemed
fully to pacify him. I never met a man who enjoyed his own jokes,
though certainly they were of the broadest kind, more thoroughly than
did Mr Johnson.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

On the evening of which I was speaking in my last chapter, Mr Johnson
was evidently in the vein for narrating his veracious history. I saw
this by the twinkle of his eye, by the peculiar curls round his mouth--
which poets speak of when describing Euphrosyne, or any charming young
lady of mortal mould, as "wreathed smiles," but which, in the
boatswain's case, could not possibly be so called--by the gusto with
which he smacked his lips, after each sip of grog, and the quiet
cachinnations in which he indulged, that there was no fear of his
breaking off for some time, unless compelled by his duties to do so. I
was right. After stretching out his legs, folding his arms, and bending
down his head, as if to meditate for a few minutes, he looked up with
his usual humorous expression, and taking a fresh sip of grog,
recommenced--

"Some of you young gentlemen have been in a gale of wind, and a pretty
stiff one too, but except the little blow we had the other day, you, Mr
Gogles, have no practical experience of what a real downright hurricane
is," he continued. "Why, I once was in a ship where, after we had
carried away our masts, we were obliged to run under a marlinespike
stuck up in the bows, but even that was too much for her, and we were
obliged to send the carpenter forward with a sledge-hammer to take a
reef in it by driving it further into the deck. It must blow hard,
you'll allow, when it becomes necessary to take a reef in a
marlinespike. In the same gale, the man at the helm had all his hair
blown clean