ine.

One day--the commander being on deck--a sudden squall struck the brig
and heeled her over till the water rushed through her lee-scuppers.
"All hands save ship!" he shouted. The men came springing up from
below, some through the fore-hatchway, but a greater number through the
main. The commander himself was standing near the companion-hatch--
intended only for his own and the gun-room officers' use. Our tall,
thin commander had just turned round to take his spy-glass from the
beckets in which it hung, when a petty officer,--a knowing fellow, who
had slipped through the gun-room passage in order to take advantage of
the other men,--springing on deck, butted right into the pit of his
stomach. The blow, doubling him up, sent him sprawling over on his
back, with his legs in the air. But, without waiting to apologise, the
seaman sprang up the rigging like lightning, and was laying out among
the others on the main-topsail-yard before the commander could open his
eyes to ascertain who had capsized him. He was, naturally, excessively
angry, but probably did not like to shout out, "You fellow, who knocked
me over, come down from aloft." And just then, indeed, all hands were
really required for shortening sail. Few of the officers had seen the
man upset the commander, and those who had could not say positively who
he was. I had my suspicions; having caught sight of an old shipmate--
Ben Blewett--running up the main rigging over the heads of several
others in a way which showed he had some reason for so doing. All the
efforts of the officers to discover the culprit, however, were
unavailing; and I thought it wisest to say nothing about the matter.
The commander could not justly have punished the man for knocking him
down, as it was done unintentionally, though he might have done so for
coming up the officers' passage. And so we enjoyed a hearty laugh in
the berth at the whole affair.

I should have said that the caterer for our mess was a steady old mate,
Reuben Boxall; a most excellent fellow, for whom I entertained a great
regard. He followed the principle my father had advised me to adopt,
and never threw away a piece of string--that is to say, when an
opportunity occurred of acquiring knowledge he never neglected it. His
chief fancy, however, was for doctoring--that is to say, the kindness of
his heart made him wish to be able to relieve the sufferings of his
fellow-creatures; and he could bleed, and bind up