superstitious, and their hopes sink with the sun; "But
it will rise again! Give way, boys, give way! we'll beat them yet!"
Again they put forth all their power, and the bow oars nearly touch. But
the wind increases, the sea rises, a heavy swell knocks us back from the
vantage we had gained. The third cutter, buoyant as a cork, perches an
instant on the crest of a wave, and then rushes down its opposite side
with a cheer from its crew. The race _was_ to the swift, but "the battle
was not to the strong;" the "Purser's Gig" was distanced.

But, if the launch had been beaten, its crew were not conquered, and the
coxswain, old Andrews, captain of the forecastle, who, with a picked
crew, would have undertaken to have pulled the boat across his own
maelstrom, offered his whack--the sum to his credit on the purser's
books, on his discharge,--against a plug of tobacco,--upon the issue, in
moderately smooth water; whilst I, with others, had not lost confidence
in the strong arms that impelled the "purser's gig;" although I did not
incline to make one of her crew in a contest in which old A. proposed to
beat the devil, on his own lake of fiery brimstone, with his favorite
launch; but A. was excited by the race, and had got a tot of a mixture
which assimilated to that "_fire water_," and forgot that his boat was
not framed of asbestos; besides, I fear he held his satanic majesty
slightly in contempt from the nautical notion that he possesses power
over sailors no more within his dominions.

CHAPTER XXII.

Effects of the Race--Suppers and their effects--The stuff that
Dreams are made of--A Scrape in the Typa--Again at Whampoa.

Some suppers had to be ordered, and somebody had to eat them. Suppers
are _spiritless_ affairs without wine--nay! I deny the soft
impeachment,--no _pun is meant_! And wine came forth at the bidding.
Some one observes,

"You _can call_ spirits from the vasty deep!
But _will_ they come?"

Let him but whisper the name of one "familiar" of any shade, complexion,
or color within the corridors of Francisco Diaz's mansion for thirsty
men, in Macao; and lo! it appears!

His house is haunted; there are _bottle imps_ therein. Suppers were
eaten at which epicures had not lingered; wine gulped down which would
_not_ have inspired Anacreon, and segars smoked that Sir Walter Raleigh
_might have_ relished! Apropos of segars--I should have said
cheroots--Manillas scent the Indian air, Havanas have