rnoon: and the following morning the
ship's company were electrified by a general order, thus set forth and
declared: "_D'ye hear there, for and aft! all hands skylark!_"

This mandate, nowadays never used except upon very rare occasions,
produced the same effect upon the men that Exhilarating Gas would have
done, or an extra allowance of "grog." For a time, the wonted
discipline of the ship was broken through, and perfect license allowed.
It was a Babel here, a Bedlam there, and a Pandemonium everywhere. The
Theatricals were nothing compared with it. Then the faint-hearted and
timorous crawled to their hiding-places, and the lusty and bold shouted
forth their glee.

Gangs of men, in all sorts of outlandish habiliments, wild as those
worn at some crazy carnival, rushed to and fro, seizing upon whomsoever
they pleased--warrant-officers and dangerous pugilists
excepted--pulling and hauling the luckless tars about, till fairly
baited into a genial warmth. Some were made fast to and hoisted aloft
with a will: others, mounted upon oars, were ridden fore and aft on a
rail, to the boisterous mirth of the spectators, any one of whom might
be the next victim. Swings were rigged from the tops, or the masts; and
the most reluctant wights being purposely selected, spite of all
struggles, were swung from East to West, in vast arcs of circles, till
almost breathless. Hornpipes, fandangoes, Donnybrook-jigs, reels, and
quadrilles, were danced under the very nose of the most mighty captain,
and upon the very quarter-deck and poop. Sparring and wrestling, too,
were all the vogue; _Kentucky bites_ were given, and the _Indian hug_
exchanged. The din frightened the sea-fowl, that flew by with
accelerated wing.

It is worth mentioning that several casualties occurred, of which,
however, I will relate but one. While the "sky-larking" was at its
height, one of the fore-top-men--an ugly-tempered devil of a
Portuguese, looking on--swore that he would be the death of any man who
laid violent hands upon his inviolable person. This threat being
overheard, a band of desperadoes, coming up from behind, tripped him up
in an instant, and in the twinkling of an eye the Portuguese was
straddling an oar, borne aloft by an uproarious multitude, who rushed
him along the deck at a railroad gallop. The living mass of arms all
round and beneath him was so dense, that every time he inclined one
side he was instantly pushed upright, but only to fall over agai