happens to be, all
the nice juicy pieces are invariably picked out for the cabin table.
Anything will do for poor Jack. His biscuits, too, are sometimes quite
alive with weevils, especially on a long voyage in hot latitudes.

After dinner, all hands are on deck, and kept there till dark. In very
large merchantmen, and all warships, this rule is departed from, and
the watch is not so torturing--so true is it that the servants in
small establishments, whether on sea or land, are always the worst
treated. However, we suppose that the hands are on deck. The breeze
has now almost died away, and the sea runs in long, low, slow swells;
the ship gently rocking, and the sails occasionally collapsing with a
crash against the creaking masts. Surely, thinks the landsman, there
is now nothing for Jack to do but turn his quid, crack his joke, smoke
his pipe, or overhaul his chest, and put the things to rights in the
forecastle, after the 'hurrah's nest' created by the squall in the
past night? Ah, friend, it is very evident that _you_ don't 'know the
ropes!' When on deck, a sailor is never idle in the day-time; even if
rain is pouring, something is found for him to do; and in fine
weather, like the day we are describing, there is a superabundance of
work. The carpenter has his bench out--for 'a ship is like a lady's
watch, always out of repair;' the steward is polishing the brass-work
of the quarter-deck; the cook is scouring his pots and pans; the
sailmaker is stitching away in the waist; and the crew are, one and
all, engaged in picking oakum, spinning yarns (not such yarns as those
amiable gentlemen, the naval novelists, talk so much about, but
rope-yarns, by the aid of spinning-winches), platting sinnet,
preparing chafing-gear, bowsing slack rigging taut, painting boats and
bulwarks, scraping yards and masts, fitting new running-rigging,
overhauling the spare sails, and fifty other things--doing, in fact,
everything but idling. And, mind, no conversation is allowed among the
men--not a word more than necessary for the performance of their
several duties. If they chat at all when on deck, it is 'on the sly,'
and out of sight and hearing of the vigilant officers, who have eyes
like the lynx, and ears as sharp as needles.

At 4 P.M. commences the dog-watch--that is, the ordinary watch of four
hours divided into two watches of half that length; and the use of
them is to shift the rotation of the night-watches. About 6 P.M. we
get