“Yes, I let him jine,” answered the skipper. “I couldn’t do else, considerin’ the poor cuss wer so down on his luck as to ask me; ’sides, mister, I knewed him afore he went to the bad; an’ if he du come with me, it’ll do him good in one way. He’ll never get none o’ thet infarnal drink till he comes back ag’in to Providence, fur I never allows a drop o’ pizen in any craft I sails from the time we leaves port till we casts anchor ag’in!”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Fritz. “There’s mischief enough done with it on land without taking it to sea.”
“Right you air, mister,” rejoined the other; “but, mind you, I don’t ask my men to do what I don’t do myself. This old hoss doesn’t believe in a fellow’s preachin’ one thing and practisin’ another; no, sirree! I ain’t a teetotaler, nohow; but I never touches a drop o’ licker from the time I sots foot aboard ship till I treads land ag’in—an’ what I does, every man Jack o’ my crew shall do ditto, or I’ll know an’ larn ’em the reason why, you bet! Howsomedever, mister, I guess we’d all better turn in now,” he added, making a signal which Mrs Brown and Celia always interpreted as meaning their departure to bed. “Recollect, this’ll be our last night ashore, fur we shall all hev to rise airly in the mornin’ to git the Pilot’s Bride under weigh.”
Chapter Nineteen.
The Voyage of the Ship.
When Fritz awoke the next day, however, he could not quite make out what was going on in the place. There was a strong smell of gunpowder in the air, and he could hear the cracking reports of small cannon, let off at frequent intervals with much noise in the streets by a crowd of boys, whose voices mingled with the excruciating sound of squeaking trumpets and the shrill, ear-piercing scream of penny whistles.
For the moment, he thought he was dreaming again of the old days of the war, and that the confused medley, which became each moment louder, was but the half-waking recollection of the bivouac around Metz, with its many constant alarms of sallies and sorties from the beleaguered fortress; but, when he came downstairs from his bedroom, he was speedily undeceived as to the reason for the pandemonium without.
The captain and Eric had already started off for the ship, and only Mrs Brown and Celia were below waiting breakfast for him.