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One morning between midnight and day, one of my mess-mates was on guard at the stable lot, a mild spring morning, and the moon shining. He got tired "walking his post" so he climbed on top of the fence, under shadow of a tree and there took his seat overlooking the lot.
You and I are to be mess-mates, and I think we shall be good friends, for I like the look o' you." Jack was right. He and I and Peterkin afterwards became the best and stanchest friends that ever tossed together on the stormy waves. I shall say little about the first part of our voyage.
The admiral was very kind to me, and shook hands with me when I left him. I returned on board of the Manilla, took leave of the surgeon, and master, and other officers, and then of all my mess-mates, and a boat was manned to take Bob Cross and me on board of the Firefly. After the boat shoved off and was a little distance from the frigate, the men suddenly tossed up their oars.
In this situation he had found time, in the intervals of duty, to read and to think; he became, in time, sullen, and separated himself from the occasional merriment of his mess-mates; and it is not improbable that this moody temper had given rise to the mutinous acts for which he was to suffer. This man now apologised for the liberty he had taken, and said he would not detain me long.
I parted with my captain on the best terms, took leave of all my mess-mates and the officers in the same friendly manner; and last, not least, went round to the ladies, kissing, hugging, crying, and swearing love and eternal attachment.
My mess-mates dropped in one after another until our number was completed; and at length a note, in an envelope addressed to the first lieutenant "on service," and marked on the lower left-hand corner with the name of the noble writer, announced that our captain would make his appearance on the following day.
I thanked him but being bent and determined on going home, he acceded to my request, gave me my discharge, and added a very handsome certificate of good conduct, far beyond the usually prescribed form; he also told me that if I chose to return to him he would keep a vacancy for me. I parted with the officers, my mess-mates, and the ship's company with regret.
And whether it is all hands bury the dead! or all hands splice the main-brace, the order is given in the same hoarse tones. Both officers and men assembled in the lee waist, and through that bareheaded crowd the mess-mates of Shenly brought his body to the same gangway where it had thrice winced under the scourge.
This affront, after all I had suffered, I was forced to pocket; but I could not understand what the admiral could mean, when he said that people went to sea "to learn manners." I soon made acquaintance with the younger set of my mess-mates, and we retreated to the forecastle as the only part of the ship suitable to the nature of the conversation we intended to hold.
The sponges were instantly dipped in the purple pool; every face present was pinched to a point with suspense; the limb writhed; the man shrieked; his mess-mates pinioned him; while round and round the leg went the unpitying cut. "The saw!" said Cuticle. Instantly it was in his hand.
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