ils
of my duty, which I should not have done had I been sea-sick, and
knocked about in a gale.

"Yes, thanks to you, Peter, I like it much better than running errands
on shore," I answered. "I don't wish for a pleasanter life."

Peter laughed. "You've had only the sweets as yet, boy; the bitters are
to come," he observed. "Still, if you get a fair share of the first,
you'll have no reason to complain."

I did not quite understand him. I then only thought of the sweets, as
he called them. The truth was, I had generally been very kindly treated
on board. To be sure, I got a kick, or the taste of a rope's end, now
and then, from some of the men if they happened to be out of humour; but
those were trifles, as I never was much hurt, and Peter told me I was
fortunate to get nothing worse. There was one ill-conditioned fellow,
Barney Bogle by name, who lost no opportunity of giving me a cuff for
the merest trifle, if he could do so without being seen by Peter, of
whom he was mortally afraid. In his presence, the bully always kept his
hands off me. Of course it would not have been wise in me to complain
of Barney to Peter, as it might have caused a quarrel; so I contented
myself with doing my best to keep out of my enemy's way, just as a cat
does out of the way of a dog which has taken a fancy to worry her.
Captain Helfrich had hitherto taken no notice whatever of me, and he
seemed to me so awful a person, that I never expected to be spoken to by
him. Now and then the mates ordered me to do some little job or other,
to fetch a swab or a marlinespike, or to hold a paint-pot, but they in
no other way noticed me.

I remember how blue the sky was, and how sparkling the sea, and how hot
the sun at noon shone down on our heads, and how brightly the moon
floated above us at night, and formed a long, long stream of silvery
light across the waters; and I used to fancy, as I stood looking at it,
that I could hear voices calling to me from far, far-off, and telling me
of my sweet, calm-eyed mother, still remembered fondly, and of my poor
father, snatched from me so suddenly. I won't talk much about that sort
of thing. It seems now like a long-forgotten dream--I believe that,
even then, I was dreaming.

Well, as I said, the fine weather continued for a long time, till I was
awoken one morning by a loud, roaring, dashing, creaking sound, or
rather, I might say, of a mixture of such sounds; and as I began to rub
my eyes, I