r details of a seaman's work. I found,
however, that many of the older sailors had a very rough and imperfect
way of doing those ordinary things, and that some of the younger ones,
who had been brought up under a better system, did them in a superior
style, and far more expeditiously.

My most willing instructor was an oldish man, John Spratt by name;
Johnny Spratt he was generally called. He was very short and very fat.
It was a wonder how he could get aloft as rapidly as he did; but no man
stepped more lightly along the decks. He also said the reason of that
was that his heart was so light. In spite of the rubs he received, he
was the merriest, and apparently the happiest fellow on board; nothing
put him out. He was very independent in his manner, and had gained the
ill-will of the captain and first mate, as well as of the boatswain and
some of the men. "Though I get more kicks than halfpence, what are the
odds?" he was wont to say. "My fat shields my bones, and I've got quite
used to such compliments." In some ships Johnny would have been valued
and made much of, from his sterling qualities--on board the _Orion_ he
was despised and ill-treated. He and Solon took a great liking to each
other, and I knew that if he was on deck my dog would be watched by him
and protected.

I could not manage to make companions of my messmates Sills and Broom.
Their education was very limited, and the few ideas they possessed were
frequently erroneous. Sills was not ill-natured, though weak, and
easily led by anybody who would take the trouble to lead him. Broom I
found at times surly and quarrelsome, and inclined always to grumble.
However, as I had been a good many years at school, and had often met
similar characters, though my school-fellows were more refined, I knew
pretty well how to deal with him.

There was a great deal of bullying and tyranny going on on board from
the very first. The captain and mates, except Mr Henley, bullied the
men, and the men bullied the boys, and the boys bullied each other, and
teased the dumb animals, the pigs, and the goats, and the fowls, and a
monkey--the weakest, or the best natured, as usual, going to the wall.
The worst treated was a little fellow--Tommy Bigg by name. His size was
strongly in contrast to his cognomen--for his age he was one of the
smallest fellows I ever saw. He was nearly fifteen years old, I fancy--
he might even have been more, but he was a simple-minded, quie