“No, thir,” lisped Lawrence.
“I guess you got asleep during your watch last night, did you not?”
“No, thir; I never closed my eyes the whole watch!”
“Don’t lie to me; what were you doing on the windlass, just after four bells?”
“Only thinking, thir.”
“There, that will do; go wash, and point yourself aloft, and stay there till I call you down; and learn, when I ask you a question, to tell the truth; away you go!”
So away goes Lawrence, imagining himself the most abused man in existence, and says a state prison would be preferable to an old blubber-hunter. After he had been kept aloft two or three hours, he was called down, told to tell the truth after this, and sent about his business.
[1] The captain.