m Trivett--Bad food--"It makes me sick to cook
it"--The deputation to the captain--The discontent increases among the
crew--Crossing the line--"What ship is that?"--We receive a visit from
Daddy Neptune and his court--Rough play, and what it might have come
to.

I intended to take the advice of my friend and not get well too soon,
but in reality there was no malingering in the case, for I remained too
low and weak to get out of my bed.

Tom Trivett all the time, having given up his berth to me, slept in a
far more uncomfortable bunk right forward, but never uttered a word of
complaint, or tried to induce me to turn out. His was true Samaritan
charity, and I was grateful to him. He even, I knew, tried to influence
the rest of the crew for good, but did not succeed. They let him alone,
which was all he could expect of them. The third mate, who knew I was
there, never came near me to inquire how I was getting on.

Mark paid me a visit whenever he could venture to do so, and brought me
my food when Tom was on duty.

The only other man who was kind to me was Julius Caesar, the black cook,
and he frequently sent me wholesome messes which he had concocted for my
special benefit; but he had to charge Mark and Tom not to let the other
men see them, lest they should be gobbled up on their way. Mark told me
this, for Julius Caesar himself never came to have a look at me.

"If I come, den dey say I friend of his--it worse for him."

Both Mark and Caesar slept in the larboard berth, so that they had no
business in the one I occupied.

I should explain that the space under the topgallant forecastle was
divided by a bulkhead running fore and aft into parts forming separate
cabins, one called the starboard, and the other the larboard berths,
with bunks built up on both sides, one above another, or rather, in two
stories, to explain myself better.

In moderate weather they were tolerably comfortable, but with the sun
beating down on the deck they were fearfully hot. In a gale of wind, as
the seas dashed against the bows or she pitched into them, the noise and
movement were tremendous. However, to that I in time got accustomed.

Sometimes the decks and upper works leaked, and the water coming in
wetted the clothes and bedding. However, in other respects they were
better than the forepeak in a flush-decked ship, which is generally
close and hot, full of horrible odours, and totally destitute of
ventilation, and o