4 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



let go his hands, and lighted on the corns of a lanky- 

 sailor, who had squeezed himself in between two chests, 

 and had fallen asleep standing ; the pain made him 

 draw up his long legs, and he was so disconcerted, that, 

 still half asleep, he courteously begged pardon of the 

 captain, or Tarpaulin, as we called him. 



The captain now began to look about him, stepping 

 over two and sometimes three persons at a time. 

 But what was his motive for taking all this trouble ? 

 Merely to look at the pretty faces of the female passen- 

 gers, and to try to make himself agreeable to them — 

 but time and place, wind and weather were against 

 him ; he only received snappish words from some, and 

 derision from others ; finding that nothing was to be 

 gained from the fair sex, he turned to the other, and 

 began to ogle various attractive-looking bottles, which 

 were less coy towards him, for here and there some of 

 them were uncorked and their contents earnestly in- 

 quired into. 



At last he went on deck, and I followed, not without 

 difhcultj, to get at least a breath of fresh air; the 

 weather was bad, the sky cloudy, with a sharp cutting 

 wind, and occasionally rain : the dull leather-colored 

 banks of the "Weser filled me with melancholy. 



H. had followed me ; so we lit a couple of cigars, and 

 talked over old stories. ^Ve anchored at dai'k, as the 

 master was afraid of running agi'ound — the vessel swung 

 round, the sails were lowered, and all was quiet for the 

 night. As the dew fell heavy and cold, we once more 

 descended through the dark abyss of the hatchway. Not 

 a light was burning, and all lay close packed together ; 

 hoAv I manaired to get through the mass is still a 



