ed the bell for a few minutes, so
that I might make it seem as if I were going to meeting in Roxbury, I
sat down on the capstan to think matters over. Nothing had happened yet
that excited me like this. Jumping through the earth, and then getting
stuck in the centre; being blown through the axis, and lighting on an
iceberg at the north pole, and all that sort of thing,--I looked back
upon rather as a matter of course. But to find myself sitting here on
the deck of a three-master, with the cabins and offices at the stern all
in good order, and the caboose-house in the centre, with the little
funnel sticking out of the top, and a big boat close by it, covered with
canvas, and a huge anchor at the bows, and spare rigging and spare masts
lying all along the sides, and a _real bell_ to ring,--this was a
little too much, even for John Whopper.

What was I to find in the cabins, and the offices, and the pantries, and
the caboose-house? The caboose-house reminded me that I was getting
hungry, and that it was near dinner-time. I had expected to make my meal
of dry crackers and cold bear-meat; but it occurred to me, that, on such
an occasion as the present, a luxurious repast would be more
appropriate, as well as more agreeable, and that very possibly I might
find in the caboose-house the materials for gratifying my appetite. I
did not as yet feel quite prepared to visit the cabins at the stern, for
I knew that I must become very much excited at what would be found
there, and a good dinner would serve to strengthen my nerves, and set me
up. I went, therefore, at once to the caboose, and slid back the door,
which required considerable effort; and, sure enough, there was every
thing at hand that I expected, and a great deal more. The accident which
lifted the deck from the hull of the ship must have happened about the
middle of the forenoon; for there was the fire all ready to be lighted
in the cooking-stove,--shavings, kindlings, and coal in place; and there
lay the cooking utensils quite convenient. This was not all; the
materials for the dinner had been brought up,--a great deal more than I
could consume in a week. Immediately I took a match from my
pocket,--there was a box of matches hanging on the wall, but I did not
feel sure that they would be in working order,--and lighted the fire.
The next thing that I did was to go and select a lump of clean, clear
ice, to be melted in the kettle, that I might be ready to wash up my
dish