ing them that this was
the anniversary of the scuttling of the sloop Jane, which had made them
all rich a year before, off the Canaries; the day that he had sent three
and twenty men over the plank to hell. Wherefore he decreed a holiday,
as the weather was bright and the trades light, and would serve
quadruple portions of rum to every man jack aboard; and they set up a
cheer that started the Mother Careys astern.

I have no language to depict the bestiality of that day; and if I had I
would think it sin to write of it. The helm was lashed on the port tack,
the haulyards set taut, and all hands down to the lad who was the cook's
scullion proceeded to get drunk. I took the precaution to have a hanger
at my side and to slip one of Cockle's pistols within the band of my
breeches. I was in an exquisite' agony of indecision as to what manner
to act and how to defend myself from their drunken brutality, for I well
knew that if I refused to imbibe with them I should probably be murdered
for my abstemiousness; and, if I drank, the stuff was so near to alcohol
that I could not hope to keep my senses. While in this predicament I
received a polite invitation to partake in the captain's company,
which I did not see my way clear to refuse, and repaired to the cabin
accordingly.

There I found Griggs and Cockle seated, and a fair-sized barrel of rum
between them that the captain had just moved thither. By way of welcome
he shot at me a volley of curses and bade me to fill up, and through
fear of offending him I took down my first mug with a fair good grace.
Then, in his own particular language, he began the account of the
capture of the Jane, taking care in the pauses to see that my mug was
full. But, as luck would have it, he got no farther than the boarding by
the Black Moll's crew, when he fell to squabbling with Cockle as to who
had been the first man over the side; and while they were settling this
difference I grasped the opportunity to escape.

The maudlin scene that met my eyes on deck defies description; some
were fighting, others grinning with a hideous laughter, and still others
shouting tavern jokes unspeakable. And suddenly, whilst I was observing
these things from a niche behind the cabin door, I heard the captain
cry from within, "The ensign, the ensign!" Forgetting his dispute with
Cockle, he bumped past me and made his way with some trouble to the
poop. I climbed the ladder after him, and to my horror beheld him in