a yawning pull
at sheet or halyard when the Mate was jealous at our idling, or a brief
spell at wheel or look out--were at liberty to seek out a soft plank
and lie back, gazing up at the gently swaying mastheads till sleep came
again. Higher and higher, as the days went by, the southern stars rose
from the sea-line, while--in the north--homely constellations dipped
and were lost to view. Night by night we had the same true breeze, the
sea unchanged, the fleecy trade clouds forming on the sea-line--to fade
ere they had reached the zenith. There seemed no end to our pleasured
progress! Ah, it is good to be alive and afloat where the trades blow.
Down south, there!

But, in spite of the fine weather and the steady breeze, there were
signs of what our voyage would be when the 'barefoot days' were done.
Out beyond the clear sky and tender clouds, the old hands saw the
wraith of the rugged Cape that we had yet to weather. The impending
wrestle with the rigours of 'the Horn' sent them to their preparations
when we had scarce crossed the Line. Old Martin was the fore hand.
Now, his oilskins hung out over the head, stretched on hoops and
broomsticks, glistening in a brave new coat of oil and blacking. Then
Vootgert and Dutch John took the notion, and set to work by turns at a
canvas wheel-coat that was to defy the worst gale that ever blew.
Young Houston--canny Shetlander--put aside his melodeon, and clicked
and clicked his needles at a famous pair of north-country hose. Welsh
John and M'Innes--'the Celtic twins'--clubbed their total outfit and
were busy overhauling, while Bo'sun Hicks spent valuable time and
denied us his yarns while he fortified his leaky bunk by tar and strips
of canvas. Even Wee Laughlin, infected by the general industry of the
forecastle, was stitching away (long, outward-bound stitches) at a
cunning arrangement of trousers that would enable him to draw on his
two pairs at once. All had some preparation to make--all but we
brassbounders!

We saw no farther than the fine weather about us. Most had been 'round
the Horn' before, and we should have known but there was no old
'steady-all' to ballast our cock-a-boat, and we scorned the wisdom of
the forecastle. 'Good enough t' be goin' on with,' and 'come day, go
day'--were our mottoes in the half-deck. Time enough, by and by, when
the weather showed a sign! We had work enough when on duty to keep us
healthy! Fine days and 'watch below' were mean