taken down at 6 A. M. so we could sit at the tables for breakfast, and
to most of the boys that first morning getting out of their hammocks
was like stepping onto a razzle-dazzle. We were now well at sea and
the general cry was in the words of the song: "Sea, sea, why are you
angry with me?" Discipline had to be relaxed those first days, for a
seasick man is quite willing to be shot and has no interest in the war,
and doesn't care which horse wins the boat-race. Seasickness never
gets any sympathy from those who are immune, but sometimes just
retribution comes on the scoffer, and it is some satisfaction to see a
man's face turn green who but a few hours ago had been whistling with a
selfish cheerfulness while you were revealing your own sticky past to
the mermaids.

After about a week parades were announced, and in the early morning we
were lined up for "physical jerks," by which is meant calisthenics, or
setting-up exercises. We now realized the appropriateness of the
nickname, for the first stretching would cause a number to rush to the
side, where they would attempt to jerk their hearts out, and also,
standing on tiptoe on a rolling ship, one can only bend in jerks. To
our joy these parades were short affairs, for there was only the
limited space of the boat and saloon decks and each platoon had to take
its turn in occupying this very limited parade-ground--so the greater
part of the time was spent in passing remarks about the slovenly work
of every other squad but one's own. Of course there were always
fatigue and guard duties. I'll never forget my first butcher's
fatigue, for when I stooped to pick up a carcass of mutton, I thought
the best way to carry it would be to hang it round my neck like a
feather boa, but no log of wood was stiffer or more unbending than that
frozen woolly, and I asked if we were expected to eat that. No wonder
so much coal is used on a ship when the food has to be thawed out! But
this job was very comforting, for I saw the inside of the ship's
storehouse, and never feared, though we were wrecked on a desert
island, there would be any danger of our starving.

We turned out some pretty ragtime guards--sentries were posted at
different parts of the ship, the most important being the guard over
the liquor, and another sentry at the saloon gangway, whose duty it was
to prevent any private or other common person trespassing on the
hallowed ground sacred to the cigarette-ash and footp