n of about forty years of age, were
more than sufficient to support him in his inferior rank. His education
and natural abilities were not, however, of that class to procure him
either friends or advancement; and he remained in the capacity of
master's-mate, and was likely long to continue so, unless some such
event as a general action should include him in a promotion which would
be regulated by seniority. He was a mean-looking, vulgar little man,
with a sharp face and nose--the latter very red, from the constant
potations of not only his own allowance, but of that of every youngster
in the ship whom he could bully or cajole.

His greatest pride and his constant study was "slang," in which he was
no mean proficient. He always carried in his pocket a colt (i.e. a foot
and a half of rope, knotted at one end, and whipped at the other), for
the benefit of the youngsters, to whom he was a most inordinate tyrant.
He could judge a day's work, which he sent in with the rest of the
midshipmen, and which proofs of theoretical knowledge of their
profession were in those days little attended to; but he was very
ignorant, and quite unfit to take charge of any vessel. Captain M---,
who, as we before stated, had joined the ship as acting captain, and had
not had time to ascertain the merits or demerits of the officers, had
given the prize to his charge because he was the senior mate of the
ship.

The prize had scarcely trimmed her sails and shaped her course, when Mr
Bullock, the master's-mate, called our hero to him, and addressed him in
the following elegant phraseology:--

"Now, you rebellious spawn--touch your hat, you young whelp,"--(knocking
off poor Willy's only hat, which flew to leeward, and went
overboard)--"mind what I say, for I mean to be as good as a father to
you. You're not an officer yet--and if you were, it would be all the
same--so no capers, no airs. You see I've only three men in the vessel
besides myself; they are in three watches; so your duty will be to
attend to me in the cabin. You'll mull my claret--I always drinks a
noggin every half-hour to keep the wind out, and if it an't ready and
an't good--do you see this?"--(taking the colt out of his pocket.)

"Stop, you'd better feel it at once, and then, when you knows what the
taste of it is, you'll take care how you're slack in stays." So saying,
he administered three or four hearty cuts on the back and shoulders of
our hero, who had been sufficient