eep in dust.

On one of my walks, the wireless operator being with me, we were seen
going up from the wharf by the ship's carpenter, who, it afterwards
came out, had tried to attract our attention by shouting. The reason for
his attempt is interesting. He was, in fact, at that time in "calaboosh,"
having been haled thither during the night, according to a prophecy of
Mead's. Looking too long on the wine (three glasses, by his reckoning)
and the beer (one innocent glass), he had succeeded in arriving abreast
of the Brazilian next to us. At this point, he had the misfortune to
lose the way to the _Bonadventure_; and presently for his safety the
police took him to the cells. Thence, the next afternoon, Chips was
released, and that without even a fine. The winter wind is not so unkind
as this cadaverous man's ingratitude to the gendarmes for their kindly
act. Asked about it, he complained in loud and bitter terms that such
things should be, and

with swinish phrase
Soiled their addition.

This episode appeared to please the mate, Meacock, in no small degree.
He recounted other imprisonments; told of black sheep among crews newly
arrived from Sing Sing and similar haunts, for whose arrest a warrant
was always handed to the police as soon as the ship arrived in port;
described the difficulty of getting these incorrigibles from the ship to
the wharf, the police having no sanction to touch them on the ship; and
how the Brazilian police got the upper hand of bruisers towering above
them by lambasting them with the flat of their swords.

Lethargy and grain dust seemed to hang in our air together. The
exploration of Ingeniero White as an amusement became less liked as
time went on, and as sometimes the dull sky broke in a drizzle of rain.
One hatch was filled with wheat; the gang trimmed it quickly; and the
loading of the other hatches continued apace, so that our going to sea
again looked close at hand. The sailors and apprentices with pots of
paint were perched at various points above and beside the ship; and it
was no great surprise to me when one of the boys, much given to
recreation, suddenly appeared in a waterlogged state.

The town was not without its Mission to Sailors. It depended upon the
energies of a very small English community, of course, but they kept up
a comfortable room, where dancing and singing were entered upon in
the evenings; the standards of pastime required by Bicker and Mead,
ho