They were constantly smoking
with the doors of the magazine open and ammunition scattered about, and
night and day with every prospect of a squall, the lower deck ports were
ever left open. I got hold of some of the officers, and tried to show
them the danger they were running; so they rubbed their caps about their
heads and opened their eyes and tried to look very wise, and followed my
suggestions. But the next day things were as bad as ever. However,
when they found out that I was up to a thing or two, they insisted on
making me an officer. What rank I held I never could tell. I only knew
that everybody obeyed me, and that none of the officers interfered with
my commands. This complaisant conduct did not arise so much from
respect for me, as that they might save themselves trouble. I never met
with men who seemed to hate it so much, from the captain to the youngest
powder-monkey. My great difficulty arose from no one understanding a
word I said, nor could I understand anybody. Still, we got on very well
under ordinary circumstances by signs. At last I happened to go forward
and to utter a few words of English. One of the men forthwith pricked
up his ears.

"`Beg pardon, sir, you'd find an interpreter convenient, I think,' he
said, touching his cap.

"`What, are you not a Turk?' said I.

"`I am not and I am,' he answered; `I have become a Turk.'

"`You are a renegade, in truth,' said I.

"`Your honour has hit it,' he replied.

"I am sorry to say he was an Irishman.

"`But I'm ready to serve a countryman, and I think I can help you at a
pinch.'

"`I shall be much obliged to you,' I answered; and from that time
forward Pat Hoolan became my interpreter and right-hand man.

"He was a great ragamuffin, and I did not trust him more than I could
help; but he was very useful to me, and I believe faithfully interpreted
the orders I issued through him. I learned also from him some of the
politics of the ship. The captain was a great rascal according to our
notions. He cheated the crew of their pay and their rations, and his
government of the stores and provisions, and indeed anything on which he
could lay his hands; while he had been tampered with by some of Mehemet
Ali's emissaries, and was only waiting an opportunity to carry his ship
into Alexandria. Such was the state of affairs when we put to sea. He
had just before found out that his treachery had been discovered, and
that another Turkish ship