he
ship's side.

Finding that he grew black in the face, I let him go, and asked if he
required any further satisfaction, to which he replied in the negative,
and from that day he was always dutiful and obedient to me. The old
superannuated mate, a sturdy merchant seaman, seemed greatly dismayed at
the successive defeats of his allies, and I believe would have gladly
concluded a separate peace. He had never offered to come to the
assistance of the doctor, although appealed to in the most pitiable
gestures. This I observed with secret pleasure, and would the more
willingly have given him a brush, as I saw he was disinclined to make
the attempt. I was, however, determined to be at the head of the mess.
At twelve o'clock that night I was relieved from the first watch, and
coming down I found the old mate in a state of beastly intoxication.
Thus he went to his hammock, and fell asleep. While he lay "dormant," I
took a piece of lunar caustic, which I wetted, and drew stripes and
figures all over his weather-beaten face, increasing his natural
ugliness to a frightful degree, and made him look very like a New
Zealand warrior. The next morning, when he was making his toilet, my
party were all ready prepared for the _eclaircissement_. He opened his
little dirty chest, and having strapped an old razor, and made a lather
in a wooden soap-box which bore evident marks of the antique, he placed
a triangular piece of a looking-glass against the reclining lid of the
chest, and began the operation of shaving. His start back with horror,
when he beheld his face, I shall never forget: it outdid the young
Roscius, when he saw the ghost of Hamlet. Having wetted his forefinger
with his tongue, the old mate tried to remove the stain of the caustic,
but the "damned spot" still remained, and we, like so many young imps,
surrounded him, roaring with laughter.

I boldly told him that he bore my marks as well as Murphy and the
doctor; and I added, with a degree of cruel mockery which might have
been spared, that I thought it right to put all my servants in black
to-day. I asked whether he was contented with the arrangement, or
whether he chose to appeal against my decree; he signified that he had
no more to say.

Thus, in twenty-four hours, I had subdued the great allies who had so
long oppressed me. I immediately effected a revolution; dismissed the
doctor from the office of caterer, took the charge on myself, and
administered the