Page:The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music & Romance 1832.pdf/48

Rh " My watch on deck! " exclaimed the master's mate of the fore-castle-a tall, raw-boned Scotchman, of the old school of midshipman- as he arose, when the first warning stroke of the bell fell on his ear, from three camp-stools, along which he had been stretching himself: " it's my watch on deck. Hand me my pea-coat, Collins, and pass the tobacco ; none of your purser's allowance, 'ither. I must relieve the 6 old soldier' who has been on post all the dog-watch." The master's mate adjusted carefully his pea-coat, and his quid, cast a wistful eye on the pile of hammocks which lay at the foot of the steerageladder, waiting to be slung for the night, and, raising a foot, was about to mount to the deck, when the form of the captain's clerk, who sat quietly in a corner, perusing the last page of a French novel, caught his eye.

" Come, Mr. Quills," said he, " come on deck, and spend an hour or two with me. You, who get half as much sleep again as one of our ground-tier berths, can easily afford the loss, this glorious night, without any very great sacrifice ' ither. By-the-by, you promised to relate to me some strange adventure you met with in a merchant-man, and I am now ready to listen to it. I should not be surprised, however, if it contains no more serious incident than the capsizing of the coffee-pot, some morning, and the loss of a breakfast thereby; for I never knew a person who had crossed the Atlantic in a packet-ship, but had seen in a watch all the wonders of the deep ,' the Psalmist tells us about--such as mountain waves, and the like, with an agreeable sprinkling of mermaids, water-spouts, and sea-serpents ; while we poor devils, who spend most of our lives at sea, are perfectly content to think a wave as high as my old grandmother's brick barn, quite a wonder in its way. Come along, though, any how; you'll find me——"

"At your old post, caulking it under the long-bow-chaser," squeaked out a sucking mid., of some three month's standing, from the inner edge of the mess -table, where he was engaged in scrawling what he termed "a letter" to his mother, which, although but half completed, was already graced with sundry and divers charts of the Black Sea, done in ink.

"Clap a stopper on your red rope, youngster," retorted the first speaker, "or I'll flatten in your head-sheets for you. Uncle Sam must be troubled with his surplus revenue, to waste it upon such hard bargains as you are- who, though you have a finger in every one's mess, muster in nobody's watch. Ah! I see you are writing to your mamma : mind and tell her, while you think of it, that the cook of the larboard mess has used for