"Do you mean to say that you signed the articles and never noticed which way the ship was going?" asked Bob, in astonishment.
"Yes, sir, I done just that. You see, I can't read writing."
If there was anything for which Bob blessed his lucky stars it was that Barlow did not ship him under the rate of an able seaman, but had told the second mate, when he came aboard to get his advance, that he was a landsman. This was the reason the second mate gave him a place in the galley. The work was steady; he did not have a moment's time to sit down, but it was comparatively easy, and he was in no danger of getting blows from some one without knowing what they were for. Once, during the day, he heard the call for all hands to shorten sail, and when the cook dropped his frying-pan, which he was washing, and rushed out on deck, grabbed a rope and laid out his strength upon it, Bob was close at his heels, although he did not know where the rope led to. At the end of an hour the work was done, and the doctor went back to his dish-washing and Bob put more wood in the stove.
"Dat's right, boy," said the cook, encouragingly. "Whenever you hear the call 'All hands,' you drop everything you've got in your hands an' grab a rope an' pull the best you know how. Then the mate won't have no cause to whack you."
"There is one thing I would like to speak about," said Bob, first making sure that the second mate was not anywhere around. "Do they have such a thing as a slop-chest aboard this ship?"
"No, they don't. They have 'em aboard the whale ships that are going out for a three years' cruise, but they don't have 'em here."
"Then I don't know what I am going to do. I didn't have any bundle when I was brought aboard, and how am I going to provide clothes for my bunk?"
"Hain't you got any?"
"Not a thing. The bunk is just as bare as the floor."
"Well, I reckon I can give you some. It won't be much, but it will be enough to keep you off'n the boards."