w as saffron, or
as plue as a pell (look you), or as green as a leek, 'tis all one." To
this declaration somebody answered, "So it seems my poor messmate must
part his cable for want of a little assistance. His foretopsail is loose
already; and besides the doctor ordered you to overhaul him; but I see
you don't mind what your master says." Here he was interrupted with,
"Splutter and cons! you lousy tog, who do you call my master? Get
you gone to the doctor, and tell him my birth, and education, and
my abilities; and moreover, my behaviour is as good as his, or any
shentleman's (no disparagement to him,) in the whole world. Cot pless my
soul I does he think, or conceive, or imagine, that I am a horse, or
an ass, or a goat, to trudge backwards and forwards, and upwards and
downwards, and by sea and by land; at his will and pleasure? Go your
ways, you rapscallion, and tell Doctor Atkins that I desire and request
that he will give a look upon the tying man, and order something for
him, if he be dead or alive, and I will see him take it by and by, when
my craving stomach is satisfied, look you." At this, the other went
away, saying, "that if they should serve him so when he was dying, by
God he would be foul of them in the other world." Here Mr. Thompson let
me know, that the person we heard was Mr. Morgan, the first mate, who
was just come on board from the hospital, whither he had attended some
of the sick in the morning; at the same time I saw him come into the
berth. He was a short thick man, with a face garnished with pimples,
a snub nose turned up at the end, an excessive wide mouth, and little
fiery eyes, surrounded with skin puckered up in innumerable wrinkles. My
friend immediately made him acquainted with my case; when he regarded me
with a very lofty look, but without speaking, set down a bundle he had
in his hand, and approached the cupboard, which, when he had opened, he
exclaimed in a great passion, "Cot is my life, all the pork is gone, as
I am a Christian!" Thompson then gave him to understand, that, as I
had been brought on board half famished, he could do no less than to
entertain me with what was in the locker, and the rather as he had bid
the steward enter me in the mess. Whether this disappointment made Mr.
Morgan more peevish than usual, or he really thought himself too little
regarded by his fellow mate, I know not, but after some pause, he went
on in this manner: "Mr. Thompson, perhaps you do not use me