"You can shout, anyhow," replied the mate. "You'll find your level presently. Then you'll walk circumspectly."
"Can you spell it?" I sneered. I was annoyed then by the laughter.
"I T," was the answer. "And you'll spell 'rope's end' if you're impudent, my lad. So put that in your pipe!"
"I don't smoke," I retorted. "Let me go, please."
"Presently. Keep quiet, as the captain says. You'll be glad presently. How do you feel now, eh?".
"None the better for seeing you," I said rudely. "Let me go!"
"No, no; you must feel better first. You see this rope's end, you'll feel it presently. Just a little pleasant warming. See?"
He then suddenly laid the rope across my shoulders sharply, and on my back a few times.
"That will keep you," he concluded, stepping forward and leaving me to my reflections. "Now you know the ropes," he cried jeeringly.
I was angry, and made up my mind to fight the mate when I got released. The captain did not interfere at all, though he saw all that had occurred. However, I suspected he would have said something had he disapproved. I was very savage, though not really hurt—except in my inmost feelings. I wriggled, and kicked, and yelled aloud, but no one took any notice of me whatever. At length I subsided,—I felt rather sick and faint.