, Mr Terence. Shure the Frenchmen are
mighty pleasant fellows, though I wouldn't be after trusting to them too
much. The steward has got some bottles of the crathur, and he's been
serving it out pretty freely. I have been afraid that Dan Hoolan and
Mat would be after taking more than is good for them, though Dan's head,
to be sure, could stand lashins of liquor, and be none the worse for
it."

"Take care, and not be tempted yourself, Larry," I said.

"No, no, Mr Terence, I know my duty too well for that, though the
Frenchmen in their love of me tried to force it down my throat."

"I wish you could manage to find the bottles of liquor, and bring them
aft, or heave them overboard; it would be putting temptation out of the
men's way," I said.

"Shure, Mr Terence, I'll obey your orders, though the Frenchmen won't
be loving me so much, if they find out it was myself that did it."

While Larry went forward to carry out my directions, I continued my
solitary walk. I was afraid even to rest against the bulwarks for a
moment, or I should have been off to sleep like a shot. Even as it was,
as I stood on deck watching the canvas, to see that the man at the helm
was steering properly, I more than once became unconscious of where I
was. Though my eyes might not have closed, I lost the power of seeing,
now fancying myself on the deck of the frigate, now on board the
_Soleil_, and I heard the voices of Nettleship and Tom Pim talking to
each other, though except that they were speaking about me, I could not
make out what they said. Now I opened my eyes. "No higher!" I sang
out, as I saw the head-sails almost aback. The helmsman turned the
spokes of the wheel, and the sails filled I continued my walk, but soon
again stopped. I went to the binnacle lamp to look at my watch. It
still wanted half an hour to midnight. I would have given much to have
had that half hour over; and it was with the greatest difficulty that I
managed to stand upright. Once more as I stood, now looking out
forward, now at the sails, strange voices sounded in my ears, and my
senses wandered.

"Faith, Mr Terence, the spalpeens have been too sharp for me; I could
only find one bottle of spirits, and that was empty. The blacks are as
drunk as fiddlers, and the Frenchmen seem to have lost their senses,
while Dan Hoolan and the rest of our men are much the same, barrin' Tim
Logan here, at the helm, and Ben Nash, and he's fast asleep, waiting for
me