Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/264

. We ran a pole through the ox from end to end, and then placed the ends of this pole upon two forked  tree-trunks which had been securely planted in the earth. A trench was dug under him in which a fire was built, and a windlass arranged with which to turn him at inter-

CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY.

vals, while a committee detailed from the crew dredged him with flour and basted him every hour.

At ten o’clock all hands were called to "splice the mainbrace." Not a man being sick, all indulged. After this the commodore ordered the starboard watch on the  right and the larboard on the left, and then he produced  a foot-ball, gave it a tremendous kick which sent it high