he Sea.]

"If I had wished myself back on the farm before, how much more did I
wish it now! But too late, too late, for we were all ordered up out of
the forecastle even before I had tasted a mouthful of food. In truth,
however, it is very likely that I was too sick with the foul odors,
tobacco-smoke, and heart-burnings to have eaten anything, even had it
been set before me.

"Upon reaching the deck, I was immediately ordered to lay hold of a
wooden shaft, about six feet long, which ran through the end of an iron
lever; and being joined by some more of the crew, we pushed down and
lifted up this lever, just like firemen working an old-fashioned
fire-engine. Opposite to us was another party pushing down when we were
lifting up, and lifting up when we were pushing down. I soon found out
that by this operation we were turning over and over what seemed to be a
great log of wood, with iron bands at the ends of it, and having a great
chain winding up around it. The chain came in through a round hole in
the ship's side, with a loud 'click, click,' and I learned that they
called it a 'cable,' while the machine we were working was called a
'windlass.' The cable was of course fast to the anchor, and it was very
evident to me that we were going to put to sea immediately. The idea of
it was now as dreadful to me as it had before been agreeable, when I had
contemplated it from the stand-point of a quiet farm, a good many miles
away from the sea. But I could not help myself. No matter what might
happen, my fate was sealed, so far as concerned this ship.

"We had not been long engaged at this work of turning the windlass,
before my companions set up a song, keeping time with the lever which we
were pushing up and down, one of them leading off by reciting a single
line, in which something was said about Sallie coming, or having come,
or going to come to 'New York town'; after which they all united in a
dismal chorus, that had not a particle of sense in it, so far as I could
see, from beginning to end. When they had finished off with the chorus,
the leader set to screaming again about 'Sallie' and 'New York town,'
and then as before came the chorus. Having completely exhausted himself
on the subject of Sallie, he began to invent, and his inventive genius
was rewarded with a laugh which interfered with the chorus through about
two turns of the windlass. What he invented I will recite, that you may
see how senseless it was; and I will d