night watch from eight o'clock till
twelve, and the morning watch from four o'clock until eight, the
starboard watch, which goes on duty for the second dog-watch, taking the
middle watch, from midnight till four o'clock, and then going below to
sleep, while the port watch takes the morning one. The arrangement for
the following night is exactly the reverse of this, the starbowlines
starting with, the first dog-watch and taking the first and the evening
watch; while the port watch has only the second dog-watch and the middle
one, from midnight till morning.

I thought I had better explain this, as it was very strange at first to
me, and I could not get out of the habit of believing sometimes that I
ought to be on deck when it was really my turn to have my "watch in"
below.

This evening, as I felt all right and hearty after my pea-soup and had a
good sleep in the afternoon, I remained on deck, although the port
watch, to which I belonged, was not on duty, Mr Mackay, who had only
stayed on the poop to see the topgallants taken in, having at once gone
below on this operation being satisfactorily performed.

I was glad I stopped, though; for, presently, Captain Gillespie,
ignoring Mr Saunders the second mate, who was now supposed to be in
charge of the deck, sang out in his voice of thunder, his nose no doubt
shaking terribly the while, albeit I couldn't see it, the evening being
too dark and lowering for me even to distinguish plainly that long
proboscis of his:

"Hands reef topsails!"

The men, naturally, were even more spry than usual from the fact of "Old
Jock" having given the order; so, they were at their posts before the
captain could get at his next command.

"Stand by your topsail halliards--let go!"

The yards tumbled down on the caps in an instant as the last word came
roaring from Captain Gillespie's lips; and at almost the same moment
parties of the men raced up the fore and main and mizzen-shrouds, each
lot anxious to have their sail reefed and rehoisted the first.

The foretop men, however, this time, bore away the palm over those
attending to the main-topsail; while those on the cro'jack-yard were
completely out of the running with only four hands against the fourteen
in the other top--although Tom Jerrold was pretty quick again, and if
those helping him had been but equally sharp they might, in spite of
being short-handed, have achieved the victory.

Urged on by Tim Rooney, though, the men forw