show of pulling on the tail of the halyards, but they were very
green, and it was easy to work off an old sailor's trick on
them--'lighting up the slack' of the rope, thus landing them on the
broad of their backs when they pulled--at nothing! We should have had
pity for them, for they never even pretended to be seamen; but we were
shorthanded in a heavy ship, and the more our arms ached, the louder
grew our curses at their clumsy 'sodgerin'.'

One of the three in the fo'cas'le 'came to' and staggered out on deck
to see where he was. As he gazed about, dazed and bewildered, the
Mate, seeing him, shouted.

"Here, you! What's yer name?"

The man passed his hand over his eyes and said, "Hans."

"Well, Hans, you git along to the tops'l halyards; damn smart's th'
word!"

With hands to his aching head, the man staggered drunkenly. Everything
was confusion to him. Where was he? What ship? What voyage? The
last he remembered would be setting the tune to a Dago fiddler in a
gaudy saloon, with lashings of drink to keep his feet a-tripping. Now
all was mixed and hazy, but in the mist one thing stood definite, a
seamanlike order: "Top'sl halyards! Damn smart!" Hans laid aft and
tallied on with the crowd.

Here was a man who had been outrageously used.
Drugged--robbed--'shanghai-ed'! His head splitting with the foul
drink, knowing nothing and no one; but he had heard a seamanlike order,
so he hauled on the rope, and only muttered something about his last
ship having a crab-winch for the topsail halyards!

About noon we cast off the tug, but there was yet no wind to fill our
canvas, and we lay as she had left us long after her smoke had vanished
from the misty horizon.

At one we were sent below for our first sea-meal. Over our beef and
potatoes we discussed our new shipmates and agreed that they were a
weedy lot for a long voyage. In this our view was held by the better
men in the fo'cas'le and, after dinner, the crew came aft in a body,
headed by Old Martin, who said "as 'ow they wanted t' speak t' th'
Captin!"

The Old Man was evidently prepared for a 'growl' from forward, and took
a conciliatory stand.

"Well, men? What's the trouble? What have you to say?" he said.

Old Martin took the lead with assurance. "I speaks for all 'ans,
Captin," he said.... "An' we says as 'ow this 'ere barque is
short-'anded; we says as 'ow there's three empty bunks in th'
fo'cas'le; an' two of th' 'ans wot's shipped ai