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It was plain to me, that by inserting such a stick into a hole in one side of the cask, and passing it on till it touched the staves on the other side, at a point diametrically opposite, I could thus obtain the exact measurement of the diameter of that part of the vessel, since the portion of the rod reaching from side to side would be the diameter itself.
The pirates instantly leaped down the hatchways and, after spending an hour in rummaging through every part of the ship, they returned to Barthelemy with the sorrowful tidings that there was nothing in the whole vessel except a cask of biscuit and one of water. Rolls could not help smiling at the fury of the disappointed men.
"How did you manage that?" inquired I. "Why, Jacob, a bull means putting a quart or two of water into a cask which has had spirits in it; and what with the little that may be left, and what has soaked in the wood, if you roll it and shake it well, it generally turns out pretty fair grog. At all events its always better than nothing.
A great cask of mead was drawn into the hall, piles of wood blazed, cattle were slain and served up, that they might feast in reality, The priest who offered the sacrifice sprinkled the devoted parishioners with the warm blood; the fire crackled, and the smoke rolled along beneath the roof; the soot fell upon them from the beams; but they were used to all these things.
We met the basha gravely pacing the sands on a white mule with scarlet trappings of all stout officials, in a country where it is a sin and a shame on the part of one in office to be thin, the stoutest. His broad body overshadowed the big mule, and his two little legs might have been a pair of ninepins below a vast cask draped in white.
The immediate answer I did not hear. The first words which reached me were "They'll do very well. Some ship will take them off by-and-by." Then another remarked "Drowning is too good for him. Turn him adrift with a cask of brandy; that's what he'd like best."
The Frenchmen, finding their shouts disregarded, then returned to their seats, talking together, and casting threatening looks at the whaler's crew. The boatswain and his companions laughed at their threats. Hunger and thirst were by this time assailing them, when one of the men proposed to broach the remaining cask of spirits.
The Doctor went with his host to the study on the second floor, where, as a Christmas custom, they would drink some Madeira, ancient of days, from a cask prescribed and furnished long since by the doctor. The little boy was for the moment left alone with the tiny niece; to stare curiously, now that she was close, at one of whom he had caught glimpses in a window of the big house next door.
Decked in shawls and bonnets, they expressed much impatience to be gone. We walked to the dock-yard, where a boat with a midshipman attended, and in a few minutes conveyed us alongside of my ship. A painted cask, shaped like a chair, with, a whip from the main yard-arm, was let down into the boat; and I carefully packed the fair creatures, two at a time, and sent them up.
It is farther to be noted, that in proportion to the quantity of Liquor, which is enclosed in one Cask, so will it be a longer or a shorter time in ripening.
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