d until our arrival at Falmouth, where all our ills were
soon forgotten amid the charm of its scenery and the atmosphere of
congenial excitement which the tavern of that day afforded. Songs were
sung and step-dancing, such as none other but a sailor could do, as
usual aroused and kept local interest on the stretch. The audiences
were composed mainly of sailors, their sweethearts for the time being,
or those directly interested in him. Indeed these were occasions when
the place was kept humming with a salty brightness. Jack had the
singular gift of making his own amusement, and so long as he kept from
taking too much drink he was not only a source of pleasure to himself,
but in his way entertained other people. Of course the sailors here, as
always, told their experiences to each other when they met, and
incidentally their owners came in for a share of contumely such as
"God-forsaken robber," or "scrape-backed thief who was not fit to carry
guts to a bear," and other more or less harmless invectives.

The men were rarely vindictive or bitter even, after the thing had
passed on, and an example of this was shown in the story I have been
relating where there was just cause for resentment and claim for
compensation, and yet none was made, nor was compensation asked for or
offered in the other two cases which I have mentioned, although they
were on almost identical lines with the first. On these last occasions
the crew lived on Indian corn for two weeks. The corn was put into
canvas, battered as small as possible, then put through the coffee
mill, and after the last process it was made into bread or puddings;
but the mill did not last long, so we were driven to eat it in a very
rough state, and soon experienced the penalty of doing so. We could not
have kept on eating it. The captain reported that he had been obliged
to broach the cargo for food, and the receivers charged him with the
estimated amount used. He and his crew thought this very mean, and I
think I remember them expressing strong regret that they hadn't
scuttled the ---- ship and thereby have inflicted great personal loss
on the owner of the cargo who, they apprehended, would have rather seen
them starve than that a bag or two of his cargo should be used for the
purpose of saving their lives. That was the impression they had formed.
Of course it was a harum-scarum impression, but it gratified them to
hold it. The real culprit was the owner of the ship, who had not