PREPARING FOR ACTION. 11 



Bimple affair. There were a pair of cross-trees fitted to 

 the mast, upon which was secured a tiny platform about 

 a foot wide on each side of the mast, while above this 

 foothold a couple of padded hoops like a pair of giant 

 spectacles were secured at a little higher than a man's 

 waist. When all was fast one could creep up on the 

 platform, through the hoop, and resting his arms upon 

 the latter, stand comfortably and gaze around, no matter 

 how vigorously the old barky plunged and kicked beneath 

 him. From that lofty eerie I had a comprehensive view 

 of the vessel. She was about 350 tons and full ship- 

 rigged, that is to say, she carried square sails on all 

 three masts. Her deck was flush fore and aft, the only 

 obstructions being the brick-built "try-works" in the 

 waist, the galley, and cabin skylight right aft by the taff- 

 rail. Her bulwarks were set thickly round with clumsy 

 looking wooden cranes, from which depended five boats. 

 Two more boats were secured bottom up upon a gallows 

 aft, so she seemed to be well supplied in that direction. 

 Mistah Jones, finding I did not presume upon his con- 

 descension, gradually unbent and furnished me with 

 many interesting facts about the officers. ^.Qpptain 

 Slocum, he said, was " de debbil hisself, so jess yew 

 keep yer lamps trim' fer him, sonny, taint helthy ter 

 rile him." The first officer, or the mate as he is always 

 called 2?ar excellence, was an older man than the captain, 

 but a good seaman, a good whaleman, and a gentleman. 

 Which combination I found to be a fact, although hard 

 to believe possible at the time. The second mate was a 

 Portuguese about forty years of age, with a face like one 

 of Vandyke's cavaliers, but as I now learned, a perfect 

 fiend when angered. He also was a first-class whaleman, 

 but an indifferent seaman. The third mate was nothing 



