188 TEE CRUISE OF THE "CACHALOT." 



" D'yew think, sir," said Nat, " thefs proper grub for 

 men?" " Proper grub ! Why, you old sinner, you don't 

 mean to say you're goin' to growl about havin' chicken 

 for dinner ? " " Well, sir, it depends muchly upon the 

 chicken. All I know is, that I've et some dam queer 

 tack in my time, but sence I ben fishin' I never had no 

 such bundles of sticks parcelled with leather served out 

 to me. I hev et boot — leastways gnawed it when I was 

 cast away in a open boat for three weeks — but it wa'n't 

 bad boot, as boots go. Now, if yew say that these things 

 is boots, en thet it's necessary we should eat 'em, or 

 starve, w'y, we'll think about it. But if yew call 'em 

 chickens, 'n say you're doin' us a kindness by stoppin' 

 our 'lowance of meat wile we're wrastlin' with em, then 

 we say we don't feel obliged to yew, 'n '11 thank yew 

 kindly to keep such lugsuries for yerself, 'n give us wot 

 we signed for." A murmur of assent confirmed this 

 burst of eloquence, which we all considered a very fine 

 effort indeed. A moment's silence ensued ; then the 

 skipper burst out, " I've often heard of such things, but 

 hang me if I ever believed 'em till now ! You ungrateful 

 beggars ! I'll see you get your whack, and no more, from 

 this out. When you get any little extras aboard this 

 ship agen, you'll be thankful for 'em ; now I tell you." 

 " All right, sir," said Nat; " so long as we don't hev to 

 chaw any more of yer biled Bimly crows, I dessay we 

 shall worry along as usual." And, as the Parliamentary 

 reports say, the proceedings then terminated. 



Now, suppose the skipper had told that story to some 

 of his shore friends, how very funny the sailors' conduct 

 would have been made to appear. 



On another occasion long after, when I was mate 

 of a barque loading mahogany in Tonala, Mexico, the 



