by
step, as if I were weighing the anchor. Small time then, to strip, and
wring it out in a rain, when no hanging back or delay was permitted.
No, no; up you go: fat or lean: Lambert or Edson: never mind how much
avoirdupois you might weigh. And thus, in my own proper person, did
many showers of rain reascend toward the skies, in accordance with the
natural laws.

But here be it known, that I had been terribly disappointed in carrying
out my original plan concerning this jacket. It had been my intention
to make it thoroughly impervious, by giving it a coating of paint, But
bitter fate ever overtakes us unfortunates. So much paint had been
stolen by the sailors, in daubing their overhaul trowsers and
tarpaulins, that by the time I--an honest man--had completed my
quiltings, the paint-pots were banned, and put under strict lock and
key.

Said old Brush, the captain of the _paint-room_--"Look ye,
White-Jacket," said he, "ye can't have any paint."

Such, then, was my jacket: a well-patched, padded, and porous one; and
in a dark night, gleaming white as the White Lady of Avenel!

CHAPTER II.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

"All hands up anchor! Man the capstan!"

"High die! my lads, we're homeward bound!"

Homeward bound!--harmonious sound! Were you _ever_ homeward
bound?--No?--Quick! take the wings of the morning, or the sails of a
ship, and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth. There, tarry a year
or two; and then let the gruffest of boatswains, his lungs all
goose-skin, shout forth those magical words, and you'll swear "the harp
of Orpheus were not more enchanting."

All was ready; boats hoisted in, stun' sail gear rove, messenger
passed, capstan-bars in their places, accommodation-ladder below; and
in glorious spirits, we sat down to dinner. In the ward-room, the
lieutenants were passing round their oldest port, and pledging their
friends; in the steerage, the _middies_ were busy raising loans to
liquidate the demands of their laundress, or else--in the navy
phrase--preparing to pay their creditors _with a flying fore-topsail_.
On the poop, the captain was looking to windward; and in his grand,
inaccessible cabin, the high and mighty commodore sat silent and
stately, as the statue of Jupiter in Dodona.

We were all arrayed in our best, and our bravest; like strips of blue
sky, lay the pure blue collars of our frocks upon our shoulders; and
our pumps were so springy and playful, that we danced up and down as w