‘Comrades,’ cried Jerry, articulating with difficulty, ‘I propose—that until the morning—the ‘Saucy Susan’—be left—(hiccup)—to take care of—herself!’
Another loud chorus of approbation welcomed this proposition, the shouting and laughter being followed by the usual outburst of discordant singing and swearing.
‘Here be what I like,’ vociferated the old sinner, Cole—‘here be true merriment! Keep it up. Pitch him who shirks overboard after the Portuguese.’
‘Even so,’ says the highwayman; ‘first to go down to the bottom of the sea, and then to go down ever so far below that. The first part of the journey cold and wet, egad, but the ending of it hot and dry enough.’
‘Here’s a stave, bullies, here’s a stave that they sing in Bridewell when the jades beat the hemp that hangs their fancy men. Give it mouth, bullies—give it mouth!’ And here the miscreant, who had boasted to me of having broken every gaol in England, sang, with a mellow voice, for he was not yet quite drunk, having but just come from the deck—
‘Up with your hammers, Bessy and Madge—
Up with your hammer, Sue;
Plait their cravats for Joe, Tom, and Jack—
Cravats they’ll grin grimly through!
Never hang head, girls, and never look glum,