Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/321

 "We’ve plenty, such as ’tis, to eat; A cook we need to make it good. We don’t wish for half-cooked meat; We are good men, we want good food.

"The steward, he’s a dirty critter, And lazy, too, to hoot; Oft while he’s mixing up our duff His hands will be as black as soot.

"All hands are at work about the decks All the live-long day; For ‘watch and watch’ we can’t expect, We should hardly earn our pay.

"Come, then, my lads, what say you all? Shall we this stand a five months more? Shall we stick by and weather the squalls, Or shall we go ashore?

"She is a bark by rig, At Boston she belongs. I’ve all the crew for evidence, And they’ll support my song.

"She now lies alongside the levee, And soon will want a crew; But if she receives her just deserts, She surely will find but few."

The day after our arrival in New Orleans we heard that the captain had taken freight for Cronstadt, Russia. This was contrary to the original agreement, but we would have stuck to the ship if we had had decent usage. As it was, we were tired of the ship and the captain too,  and, to a man, we packed our "duds." He was