te, with whom the captain had remained
until he left the deck at midnight; and, an Tom Bullover and Hiram
Bangs, my only friends amongst the crew, had gone below with Mr
Steenbock and the rest of the starboard hands, there was nobody whom I
could speak to and tell all that I had seen.

I felt very lonesome in consequence; and, although I was not a bit
sleepy, having managed to get a good four hours' rest before I was
awakened by Captain Snaggs coming stumbling down the companion way, as
well as by the noise made by the sea smashing into the cabin at the same
time, yet I was tired enough still not to be averse to stowing myself
away under the lee of the long-boat. I took the precaution, however, to
cuddle up in a piece of old tarpaulin that was lying about, so that the
first-mate should not see me from the poop, and set me on at once to
some task or other below, in his usual malicious way--Mr Flinders, like
Captain Snaggs, never seeming to be happy unless he was tormenting
somebody, and setting them on some work for which there wasn't the least
necessity!

The moon was now shining brightly and lots of stars twinkling in the
heaven, which was clear of clouds, the bracing nor'-westerly wind having
blown them all away; and the _Denver City_ was bounding along with all
plain sail set before the breeze, that was right astern, rolling now and
again with a stiff lurch to port and then to starboard, and diving her
nose down one moment with her stern lifting, only to rise again
buoyantly the next instant and shake the spray off her jib-boom as she
pointed it upwards, trying to poke a hole in the sky!

What with the whistling of the wind through the cordage, and the wash of
the waves as they raced over each other and broke with a seething
`whish' into masses of foam, and the motion of the ship gently rocking
to and fro like a pendulum as she lurched this way and that with
rhythmical regularity, my eyes presently began to close. So, cuddling
myself up in the tarpaulin, for the air fresh from the north felt rather
chilly, I dropped off into a sound nap, not waking again until one of
the men forward struck `six bells,' just when the day was beginning to
dawn. This was in spite of my being `not a bit sleepy,' as I said.

I roused up with a start, not; knowing where I was at first; but it was
not long before the fact was made patent to me that I was aboard ship,
and a cabin boy as well to boot--a sort of `Handy Billy,' for every