d by us like footmen, as well as the ridicule and laughter of
the whole ship's company, who had assembled at the gangways.

When all the pastry was devoured, the first lieutenant said, "There,
gentlemen, now that you have had your lesson for the day, you may go
below." We could not help laughing ourselves when we went down into the
berth.

CHAPTER TEN.

A PRESS-GANG BEATEN OFF BY ONE WOMAN--DANGERS AT "SPITHEAD" AND
"POINT"--A TREAT FOR BOTH PARTIES, OF "PULLED CHICKEN," AT MY EXPENSE--
ALSO GIN FOR TWENTY--I AM MADE A PRISONER: ESCAPE AND REJOIN MY SHIP.

I must now relate what occurred to me a few days before the ship sailed.
We were reported ready for sea, and the Admiralty was anxious that we
should proceed. The only obstacle to our sailing was, that we had not
yet completed our complement of men. The captain applied to the
port-admiral, and obtained permission to send parties on shore to
impress seamen. The second and third lieutenants, and the oldest
midshipmen, were despatched on shore every night, with some of the most
trustworthy men, and generally brought on board in the morning about
half-a-dozen men, whom they had picked up in the different alehouses or
grog-shops, as the sailors call them. I had a great wish to be one of
the party before the ship sailed, and asked O'Brien, who was very kind
to me in general, and allowed nobody to thrash me but himself, if he
would take me with him, which he did on the night after I had made the
request. I put on my dirk, that they might know I was an officer, as
well as for my protection. About dusk we rowed on shore, and landed on
the Gosport side: the men were all armed with cutlasses, and wore
pea-jackets, which are very short great-coats made of what they call
flushing. We did not stop to look at any of the grog-shops in the town,
as it was too early; but walked out about three miles in the suburbs,
and went to a house, the door of which was locked, but we forced it open
in a minute, and hastened to enter the passage, where we found the
landlady standing to defend the entrance. The passage was long and
narrow, and she was a very tall, corpulent woman, so that her body
nearly filled it up, and in her hands she held a long spit pointed at
us, with which she kept us at bay. The officers, who were the foremost,
did not like to attack a woman, and she made such drives at them with
her spit, that had they not retreated, some of them would soon have been
read