was so very hot, I thought there could be no
objection to. Mr Falcon smiled and said, "Mr Simple, I'm an old stager
in the West Indies, and I'll let you into a secret. Do you know what
'_sucking the monkey_' means?" "No, sir." "Well, then, I'll tell you; it
is a term used among seamen for drinking _rum_ out of _cocoa-nuts, _the
milk having been poured out, and the liquor substituted. Now do you
comprehend why your men are tipsy?" I stared with all my eyes, for it
never would have entered into my head; and I then perceived why it was
that the black woman would not give me the first cocoa-nuts which I
selected. I told Mr Falcon of this circumstance, who replied, "Well, it
was not your fault, only you must not forget it another time."

It was my first watch that night, and Swinburne was quarter-master on
deck. "Swinburne," said I, "you have often been in the West Indies
before, why did you not tell me that the men were '_sucking the monkey_'
when I thought that they were only drinking cocoa-nut milk?"

Swinburne chuckled, and answered, "Why, Mr Simple, d'ye see, it didn't
become me as a ship-mate to peach. It's but seldom that a poor fellow
has an opportunity of making himself a 'little happy,' and it would not
be fair to take away the chance. I suppose you'll never let them have
cocoa-nut milk again?"

"No, that I will not; but I cannot imagine what pleasure they can find
in getting so tipsy."

"It's merely because they are not allowed to be so, sir. That's the
whole story in few words."

"Well, I think I could cure them if I were permitted to try."

"I should like to hear how you'd manage that, Mr Simple."

"Why, I would oblige a man to drink off a half pint of liquor, and then
put him by himself. I would not allow him companions to make merry with
so as to make a pleasure of intoxication. I would then wait until next
morning when he was sober, and leave him alone with a racking headache
until the evening, when I would give him another dose, and so on,
forcing him to get drunk until he hated the smell of liquor."

"Well, Mr Simple, it might do with some, but many of our chaps would
require the dose you mention to be repeated pretty often before it would
effect a cure; and what's more, they'd be very willing patients, and
make no wry faces at their physic."

"Well, that might be, but it would cure them at last. But tell me,
Swinburne, were you ever in a hurricane?"

"I've been in everything, Mr Simple, I belie