86 WATERED RUM AT OTAHEITE. 



one the Captain would trust to have anything to 

 do with selling or dealing out the rum. There was 

 a boy about my age on one of the ships in port, 

 a schoolmate of mine back in New Bedford. He 

 came on board to see me, as he was going ashore 

 on a day's liberty, and I begged the captain to let 

 me go with him. After some teasing the old man 

 consented, telling me to give the keys of the rum- 

 hold to one of the petty officers when I left the 

 ship. Now the second mate was on board and 

 had charge of the ship, while the first mate and 

 watch were ashore on liberty. As I was about to 

 leave the ship, the second mate asked me for the 

 keys. I told him I had obeyed the captain's 

 orders and had given them to another officer. I 

 started ashore, feeling there would be some 

 trouble ; and in this I was not far wrong, for when 

 I came on board that night, I found that there 

 had been a fight for the keys, that the second 

 mate was crazy drunk and wanted to leave the 

 ship, and that the old man had threatened to put 

 him in irons. That — need I add ? — was my 

 very last holiday on Otaheite. 



