FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 75 
instead of returning with their pockets full of money, they 
would arrive in debt to their employers for the cost of 
their board on the vessel that took them home, whilst the 
owners by insurance might lose nothing, and might even 
profit by the wreck. This seems hardly a considerate 
arrangement in regard to the men ; and if employers 
would still be employers, they ought to be very con- 
siderate in .this respect, or the time will come for sailors 
to work for their united interest, and the consideration 
of the employers will be of no account. 
For some days reports have come aft from the focsle 
that the horse was being constructed. When I heard an 
unfamiliar song being chanted this afternoon, I went 
forward and found the men hauling on two lines that led 
down to the focsle-hatch. At the end of the lines came 
the dummy horse, made of wood and canvas, bestrode by 
Braidy, arrayed in a scarlet flannel jacket and a black 
jockey's cap. The horse was supported on either side and 
at its latter end by some of the old hands. As the hatch 
is very steep, they had some difficulty in hauling up the 
horse and its rider properly and in time to the chant. 
At last they got him on deck and then began a slow 
march round the ship, going aft on the starboard side, 
round the poop, and forward again by the port side. The 
procession really made a splendid picture-subject, the 
colouring of the men's clothes in the sunlight was so varied 
and so harmonious ; there was faded blue, and purple, 
and pale green, and a sky-blue Tam-o'-Shanter, and all the 
faces and arms were dyed nut-brown by the sun. In the 
middle of the group sat Braidy in his scarlet coat, with 
