champagne
a day in advance, that nothing should be wanting to give a finish to their
turtle. It happened to be a rougher day than usual when the turtle was
cooked, but they had become too well used to the motion of the ship to
mind that.

4. It happened to be my turn at the wheel the hour before dinner, and I
had the tantalizing misery of hearing them laughing and talking about
their turtle, while I was hungry from want of dry bread and salt meat. I
had resolutely kept my thoughts from the cabin during all the passage but
once, and now I found my ideas clustering round a tureen of turtle in
spite of all my philosophy.

5. Confound them, if they had gone out of my hearing with their exulting
smacks, I should not have envied their soup, but their hungry glee so
excited my imagination that I could see nothing through the glazing of the
binnacle but a white plate with a slice of lemon on the rim, a loaf of
delicate bread, a silver spoon, a napkin, two or three wine glasses of
different hues and shapes, and a water goblet clustering round it, and a
stream of black, thick, and fragrant turtle pouring into the plate.

6. By and by it was four bells: they dined at three. And all the
gentlemen, with the captain at their head, darted below into the cabin,
where their mirth increased when they caught sight of the soup plates.
"Hurry with the soup, steward," roared the captain. "Coming, sir," replied
the steward. In a few moments the cook opened the door of his galley, and
out came the delicious steam of the turtle.

7. Then came the steward with a large covered tureen in his hand, towards
the cabin gangway. I forgot the ship for a moment in looking at this
precious cargo, the wheel slipped from my hands, the ship broached to with
a sudden jerk; the steward had got only one foot upon the stairs, when
this unexpected motion threw him off his balance, and down he went by the
run, the tureen slipped from his hands, and part of its contents flew into
the lee scuppers, and the balance followed him in his fall.

8. I laughed outright. I enjoyed the turtle a thousand times more than I
should have done if I had eaten the whole of it. But I was forced to
restrain my mirth, for the next moment the steward ran upon deck, followed
by the captain, in a furious rage, threatening if he caught him to throw
him overboard. Not a spoonful of the soup had been left in the coppers,
for the steward had taken it all away at once to keep it warm. In