"'Well, Michael,' says the Captain, 'what is it to-day?'
"'Goin down with a run, sir,' pants old Chips. 'Twenty foot? water in her well.'
"The Captain turns to me.
"'Where's the nearest land, Willum?' says he, with that twinkle of is'n. Always called me Willum, when he meant mischief, did the Captain.
"'Why, sir,' says I, 'the bottom, I reck'n.'
"'Wrong again,' says he. 'That's the nearest land to me,' and he points at the Santy Maria, Don Somebody Somethin's Flag-ship. 'Hard a-starboard, if you please, Mr. Hardin,' says he. 'I'm a-goin to land.'
"So I luffs up alongside, and fell aboard Er Oliness—like a mighty great mountain above us she was, all poop, and galleries, and Armada fittins.
"When our bow scraped her quarter,
"'Anybody for the shore!' pipes the Captain; and he jumps into her main-chain….
"Ah, but you should ha heard the men cheer!"