Jan Cutbush done in th' eye!!'

"'Cap'n Jan S. Cutbush, th' smartest skipper on th' Front, done in the
bloody eye by a bargoo-eatin' son ef a gun ef a grey-headed
limejuicer!!!'"

VIII

WORK!

Scarcely was our anchor down in 'Frisco Bay than the boarding-house
'crimps' were alongside, beaming with good-fellowship, and tumbling
over one another in their anxiety to shake 'Jack' by the hand, and to
tell him of the glorious openings and opportunities for smart sailormen
ashore. The Mate vainly endeavoured to prevent them boarding the ship,
but with the ordinary harassing duties incident on arrival, and the
extraordinary matter of a serious fire in the hold, he could not do
everything; so the 'crimps' installed themselves in the fo'cas'le, and
the grog (Welcome-home Brand) was flowing far and free.

The starboard watch were aloft furling the tops'ls, and only the
presence of the Captain and Mates at the foot of the rigging kept them
from joining the hilarious crowd in the fo'cas'le. The Mate's watch
had been employed at the ground tackle, and had dodged in and out of
the fo'cas'le; so that, in a very short time, they were all 'three
sheets in the wind,' and making for trouble. Vootgert, the Belgian,
was the first to fall foul of the Mate, and that sorely-tried Officer
could hardly be blamed for using all four limbs on the offending
'squarehead.' Seeing their shipmate thus handled, the watch would have
raised a general melee, but the boarding-house 'crimps,' having no
liking for police interference, succeeded in calming the valiant ones
by further draughts of their fiery panacea. To us boys (who had heard
great tales of revolvers and other weapons being freely used by ship
captains in preventing their men from being 'got at') these mutinous
ongoings were a matter of great wonderment; but, later, we learned that
freights were low, and we were likely to be many months in 'Frisco;
that crews' wages and victualling, when the ship is earning no money,
reflect on the professional character of an old-time shipmaster, and
that to baulk the 'crimps' on arrival means an expensive delay in
making up a crew when the ship is again ready for sea.

Wee Laughlin and the nigger were the first to yield to the eloquence of
their visitors. No one was surprised that the Mate let Laughlin clear
without interference. A poor sailor, though a lot had been licked into
him since he left the 'Poort,' he was not worth keeping. His k