impeach my authority," the stupid, arbitrary tyrant would say; "you
shall be fed on the smell of an oil-rag in future, and have your wages
forfeited at the end of the voyage into the bargain." Alas, this wicked
threat was too often carried into effect so far as the forfeiture of
wages and ill-treatment were concerned. Whereas the diplomatic,
sensible master would deal with a case of this kind in a way that was
calculated to soften Jack into a condition that resembled penitence,
and make him feel as though he were a pig for having complained in this
direct way at all. I know there are cases that cannot be dealt with at
sea in any other than a despotic fashion, and although there is no
necessity to show weakness, there is as a rule a better chance of
governing men by kindness than by adopting a harsh, unyielding attitude
towards them, as though they were Mohammedan dogs.

A vessel short of provisions is seldom heard of in these days of steam
and up-to-date precautions, but a generation ago it was a common
occurrence. Landspeople used to speak of it as one of the ordinary
risks of a sailor's profession that the general public had no
particular interest in, excepting that it added somewhat to seafaring
romance. I have often wished that those whom I have heard speaking in a
casual, airy fashion of this phase of sea-life could have the faculty
of imagination put into them so that they might realize what really
happened to those who had to experience the manifold sufferings and
privations of being short of water and provisions in mid-ocean where
there was little chance of seeing a sail for days, and when perchance a
vessel was seen, the weather might be so boisterous that communication
could not be effected, or _they_ might even be short of provisions.
In order to minimize the suffering of hunger and thirst, sailors
sometimes buckled their stomachs in with a belt, and those who had not
a belt did so with cord. Hunger is a terrible sensation anywhere, but
it is doubly intensified at sea when there is no hope of it being
appeased, and the whole surroundings become impregnated with a sense of
coming doom. Those who have never known the pangs of prolonged hunger
may have some idea of it conveyed to them by trying to imagine that
some wild animal is tearing at their internals. That is an accurate
description of it, and I should like to know what other thing is
calculated to create madness sooner. Sailors of that generation never