“And for all this,” continued the captain, “you have repaid him by running away. Now, my lad, as you have made your bed you shall lie on it. I’ll clap your nose to the grindstone, and keep it there. Steward!”
A smart little man answered to the call.
“Take this boy for’ed, and teach him to clean up. Don’t spare him.”
In obedience to this order the steward took little Wilkins forward and introduced him to the cook, who introduced him to the coppers and scrubbing brushes. From that day forward Master Watty became deeply versed in the dirty work and hard work of the ship, so that all the romance of a sea life was driven out of him, and its stern realities were implanted. In less than three weeks there was not a cup, saucer, or plate in the ship that Watty had not washed; not a “brass” that he had not polished and re-polished; not a copper that he had not scraped; not an inch of the deck that he had not swabbed. But it must not be supposed that he groaned under this labour. Although reckless, hasty, and inconsiderate, he was not mean-spirited. Making up his mind to do his best in the circumstances, he went cheerfully to his dirty work, and did it well.
“You see,” said he to Philosopher Jack, as they chanced one dark night to have a few minutes’ talk together near the weather gangway, where Watty paused on his way to the caboose with a soup-tureen, “as the captain says, I’ve made the bed myself, so I must lie on it and I’m resolved to lie straight, and not kick.”
“Right, Watty, right,” said Jack, with a sigh; “we have both been fools, so must grin and bear it.”
Watty greeted this remark, to Jack’s surprise, with a sudden and unexpected yell, as he received a cut from a rope’s-end over the back.
“What, idling, eh?” cried the steward, flourishing the rope’s-end again.
In a burst of rage the poor boy raised the soup-tureen, and would infallibly have shattered it on the man’s head if Jack had not caught his arm.
“Come, Wilkins, mind what you’re about,” he said, pushing him towards the forepart of the ship to prevent a scuffle.