The mate, a burly fellow who stood hard by, muttered:
"Get up, you d——d fool. You have slid." Whereupon the pious James called him a liar, and continued:
"Examine me, O Lord, and prove me: try my reins and my heart."
When he had finished the sentence, the captain interposed:
"I'm quite satisfied that you are intoxicated, and must request you, Mr Jones, to see that he is put to bed before he does any more mischief. I shall keep my grog under lock and key for the future."
This strong indictment caused James to become piously agitated. The mate eloquently remarked:
"Yes, it is all damned fine quoting Scripture, but that won't give us our breakfast. What do you say, Mr Second Mate?"
"Amen," said the gallant officer, and, with a merry twinkle in his eye, he added in a whisper, "but I don't quite agree with the grog being locked up."
Jimmy was very popular with all aboard, and everyone was full of sympathy with him for having had the misfortune to fall into disgrace. In a few weeks after his fall he was paid off in Bristol, and to celebrate the occasion he and a young lad, who was much devoted to him, had a glass together. He was very fond of his wife and his home, and used to confide all manner of sacred things to his young friend. They were walking down a fashionable street together, and observing a well-dressed lady looking in a shop window, he remarked to the youth:
"That is a fine dress the lady has on. I would like to have one like it for our Nanny (meaning his wife). I wonder if it cost much."