ces, so we were all soon
aboard. Before going forward, I took a comprehensive glance around, and
saw that I was on board of a vessel belonging to a type which has almost
disappeared off the face of the waters. A more perfect contrast to the
trim-built English clipper-ships that I had been accustomed to I could
hardly imagine. She was one of a class characterized by sailors as
"built by the mile, and cut off in lengths as you want 'em," bow and
stern almost alike, masts standing straight as broomsticks, and bowsprit
soaring upwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees. She was as
old-fashioned in her rig as in her hull; but I must not go into the
technical differences between rigs, for fear of making myself tedious.
Right in the centre of the deck, occupying a space of about ten feet by
eight, was a square erection of brickwork, upon which my wondering gaze
rested longest, for I had not the slightest idea what it could be. But
I was rudely roused from my meditations by the harsh voice of one of the
officers, who shouted, "Naow then, git below an' stow yer dunnage, 'n
look lively up agin." I took the broad hint, and shouldering my traps,
hurried forward to the fo'lk'sle, which was below deck. Tumbling down
the steep ladder, I entered the gloomy den which was to be for so long
my home, finding it fairly packed with my shipmates. A motley crowd
they were. I had been used in English ships to considerable variety of
nationality; but here were gathered, not only the representatives of
five or six nations, but 'long-shoremen of all kinds, half of whom had
hardly ever set eyes on a ship before! The whole space was undivided
by partition, but I saw at once that black men and white had separated
themselves, the blacks taking the port side and the whites the
starboard. Finding a vacant bunk by the dim glimmer of the ancient
teapot lamp that hung amidships, giving out as much smoke as light, I
hurriedly shifted my coat for a "jumper" or blouse, put on an old cap,
and climbed into the fresh air again. For a double reason, even MY
seasoned head was feeling bad with the villainous reek of the place, and
I did not want any of those hard-featured officers on deck to have
any cause to complain of my "hanging back." On board ship, especially
American ships, the first requisite for a sailor who wants to be treated
properly is to "show willing," any suspicion of slackness being noted
immediately, and the backward one marked accordingly. I h