‘Oh shame,’ said one of them, ‘give the boy a drop of his own grog;’ but I could not look at it—the smell was sickening.
‘No, no,’ said I, ‘send that after the rest.’
‘Right,’ said one of them, ‘boys have no use for grog.’
‘Will you give me the gingerbread now?’ said I.
‘Oh, by the by, I had forgot that, here it is for you, my hearty.’
The most of them went on deck, and left William and I to reflect on the justice of their appropriation of my property. However, the liquor was a thing I cared little about, and it gave me the less uneasiness. We were now allowed to lie quietly enough until night, when those whose watch was below came down to go to bed—one of them came to the berth, where William and I were lying, and seizing him by the neck, cried out, ‘Hollo, who the devil’s this in my berth?’
‘It is two of the Johnnie-raws that are sick,’ replied one of them.
‘Johnnie-raw or Johnnie-roasted, they must get out of that, for I want to turn in.’
Out we were bundled, and during the whole course of that night we were knocked about from one place to another, by each succeeding watch.
Next morning early, the word was passed for the boys to go aft to the quarter-deck. It was hard rooting them out; but at last we were mustered—six in all. When we were assembled, the mate addressing us, said, ‘I think I have given you long enough time to recover from your sickness. You, Tom, have no right to be sick. You were at sea before.’ I looked at Tom: there was not a more miserable-looking object amongst us. I could scarcely allow myself to believe that he was the same being whom we saw swaggering on the streets of Greenock a few days before. We were then appointed to different watches. William and I were luckily appointed to the same one, which being on duty at the time, we were ordered to scrub the hen coops, and feed the fowls, while the men washed the deck. The boys were always made the drudges in every thing dirty and disagreeable. But the duty of the ship was little in comparison to the way in which we were teased and ill used by the sailors. I have often been roused up after a fatiguing watch, and just when I had fallen into a profound sleep, to go and fetch a drink of water for some of the crew. A fellow, of the name of Donald M’Millan, was one of our chief tormentors. He used to invent new mortifications for us; and he was of so brutal and savage a disposition, that he would beat and abuse the boys for the most trifling fault, and often without cause. I am sure, if the conduct of the men had been reported to the captain, he would not have allowed the boys to be used in the manner they were. But we were afraid to say any thing concerning our usage, knowing that they could find numberless methods of tormenting without openly beating us.