they could
teach me, it was not long before I was able to put it out of the power
of either Tom Jerrold or Weeks to call me "Master Jimmy Green," as they
at first christened me--just because they had the advantage of going to
sea a voyage or two before me! I may add, too, that my progress towards
proficiency in picking up the endless details of nautical lore was all
the more accelerated by the desire of excelling my shipmates, so as to
have the chance of turning their chaff back upon themselves.

Spurred on by this motive, I quickly learnt all the names of the ropes
and their various uses from Mr Mackay; while Tim Rooney showed me how
to make a "reef knot," a "clove hitch," a "running bowline," and a
"sheep-shank," explaining the difference between these and their
respective advantages over the common "granny's knot" of landsmen--my
friend the boatswain judiciously discriminating between the typical
peculiarities of the "cat's-paw" and the "sheet bend," albeit the one
has nothing in connection with the feline tribe and the other no
reference to one's bed-covering!

The wind moderated when we got below the Azores, while the sea also
ceased its tumultuous whirl, so that we were able to make all plain sail
and carry-on without rolling as before; so, now, at last, I was allowed
to go aloft, my first essay being to assist Tom Jerrold in setting the
mizzen-royal. Really, I quite astonished Tom by climbing up the futtock
shrouds outside the top, instead of going through "the lubber's hole,"
showing myself, thanks to Tim Rooney's private instructions previously,
much more nimble in casting off the gaskets and loosening the bunt of
the sail than my brother mid expected; indeed, I got off the yard, after
the job was done, and down to the deck a good half minute in advance of
him.

On our sixth day out, we reached latitude 35 degrees north and 17
degrees west, drifting past Madeira a couple of days later, the
temperature of the air gradually rising and the western winds growing
correspondingly slack as we made more southing; until, although it was
barely a week since we had been experiencing the bitter weather of our
English February, we now seemed to be suddenly transported into the
balminess of June. The change, however, took place so imperceptibly
during our gradual progress onward to warmer latitudes, that, in looking
back all at once, it seemed almost incredible.

I found the work which we apprentices had to do was rea