"Jemmy Ducks!"
"I don't understand you. Who's Jemmy Ducks?"
"Well, he's a sort of lackey to everybody. He has to keep the cabin in order, help the cook, and haul at the sheets; and he works for kicks instead of ha'pence."
"Kicks!" exclaimed Tony. "Who'll kick me?"
"All hands and the cook. But, bless you, that won't hurt you. It only makes you tough and waterproof. The only way is to work hard; keep still, and say nothing to nobody till your time comes, and then let him have it, good and strong."
"Let who have it?"
"Why, if you tend to your business straight and square you'll get ahead, of course; and then you'll go for the fellow that takes your place."
"Must I kick somebody who has never done me any harm, simply because somebody else has kicked me?" cried Tony.
"If you want to get square, that's the only way you can do it," said his new friend, indifferently.
If Tony had never known before, that it will not do to put implicit faith in everything one reads in books, he knew it now. In his favorite sea-novels there was no mention made of the hardships of a sailor's life, and the cruelties that are practised upon him. His existence was described as one of ease and pleasure. Of course there were wrecks, and fights with pirates and mutinous crews; but the typical sailor, who was always loyal to his captain, rather enjoyed such things as these, for they served to break the monotony of long voyages, and gave him opportunity to show his skill and courage, and win a reward. The constant annoyances and punishments to which a foremast hand is sometimes subjected, were never spoken of; but Tony's new friend referred to them as though they were matters of everyday occurrence. The runaway found that they were, too. He began to believe that he had made a mistake, and while he was informing himself of the fact, his companion led him down to a pier and across to a little schooner that lay on the opposite side. This was the Princeton—an ill-looking craft to bear so dignified a name. She was not more than half as large as the brig to which Tony's new acquaintance belonged, and neither did her deck present the same scene of neatness and order.