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Begorrah, all he hed, sure, wor a spud-net, same as ye titched yer sicond 'lowance ov grog t'other day wid, Misther Joblins; an' this wor stuck atop ov wun ov the min's oilskins thet he'd hoong oot fur to dhry in the fore rigging. Thet wor the spirrit I sayd."
"Say, Joblins," he called out, as he was going to light his pipe to have a smoke forwards, we boys having set out the spittoons for the men along the `'tween decks, "got your grog all right, old ship?" "Oh ay," answered the other. "I'se droonk un." "But I means yer second 'lowance." "Hay?" said Mr Johnny Raw, his eyes beginning to visibly brighten. "What fur be that?"
No," replied Joblins defiantly, but looking nervous all the same. "I ain't so soon frightened as that, Mick!" "All roight, me joker," said Mick. "Oi ownly thort ez how Oi'd not take ye onywheres, ye know; but, faith, ez Oi say ye're so brave a chap, Oi'll now carry on an' till ye all about a raal banshee Oi saw t'other noight." Joblins moved uneasily on his seat. "What!" he cried.
"Tell us," inquired Joblins, the `green hand, you may recollect, who went on deck to fetch his second lot of grog with a spud-net and who, though he had been made a bit sharper since then by the chaff and jokes of his messmates, was still not by any means bright, "did yer ever see one o' them ghostesses?" "Hev Oi ivver sane wun?" repeated Mick, in a tone of intense scorn.
"Ay," replied Joblins, in a very satisfied tone, thinking the matter was now satisfactorily settled. "That I be, sir." "I thought so," said the ship's steward drily. "What are you going to put the grog in if I gave it to you?" Joblins did not reply in words, but held out the net.
Exiled from aft the main-hatchway, Mr Jocko took up his quarters with the boatswain, who offered to assume charge of him when Doctor Mopson gave him up as a bad job and the other officers repudiated him; and, being now able to associate with us forward more freely, he quickly learnt all manner of new tricks, using a glass, for instance, as well as a signalman, and another sort of glass, especially if it contained grog, as expertly as Joblins did, when he had the chance.
"Lor'!" cried Joblins, interrupting him at this thrilling point, all agog with excitement; "what did you see, mate?" "Faith," replied my chum, with a grin, "the poor craychur hed no hid at all, at all, sure!
Joblins, however, was reluctant to give up the chance of getting an additional supply without a struggle for it, so, he would not accept this rebuff. "They sez below, sir," explained he, still holding out the spud-net straight in front of him, "as how I wer to tell yer, sir, as I wur a noo hand, an' yer would give I a second 'lowance." "Oh, you're a new hand are you?"
Oi wor a-coomin' oop the forepake afther dark, jist ez it mebbe now. Ye knows the forepake, Joblins?" "Ye-e-es," stuttered out `greeny, his jaw dropping with fright, and his mouth open as big as a teacup. "I I I knows the forepeak, mate."
"That's where you're wrong, Joblins," put in Harris, his old tormentor, backing up Mick most effectively in his attempt at taking a rise out of the yokel. "Spirits aboard ship is pertic'lerly partial to water, as every one knows!"
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