When the watering was finished, the next thing was to get up, out of the ship, forty-eight bales of hay and fifty bags of shelled corn.
Generally Dug and I stood below and lifted the hay up to the cattle deck, while the other fellows rolled the bales along the alley to the hatchways, where they were to be used. We had about the hardest job of all, for lifting two hundred and twenty-five pound bales of hay is not an easy job by any means.
At eight o'clock breakfast was issued, which always consisted of a stale loaf of bread for each man, a piece of salted horse meat, and a bitter drink substituting tea or coffee.
We three fellows always ate on deck, or on a box in the alleyway when the weather was raw. For breakfast we were allowed half an hour, and as soon as that time was up we were set to work sweeping the alleyways and cleaning out the troughs.
For the noon meal we had only one dish, which was "scouse," a mixture of meat and potatoes, thoroughly boiled in water. This dish is a favorite one with seamen, but I never cultivated a taste for it. We were allowed a rest of three hours after the noon meal, and that particular time was looked forward to with pleasure, for, not being used to hard labor with such a small and unappetizing amount of food, a nap in the sun was, as might be expected, much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed.
At three o'clock we began salting the cattle, and oh! how I used to hate that, for I knew the salt would make the cattle drink more water the morning following. After salting, we fed hay, forked in, and then swept out the alleyways. By the time we had this finished it was nearing the supper hour, and this meal was just as bad as the rest, everlasting bread and coffee.
More hay was forked in after supper, and we usually completed our day's work about seven o'clock, making in all about ten hours slavish work. When this was finished we never spent any time loafing, but retired to our quarters, ready to sleep.
For three days I remained deathly sick, taking neither food nor water, and yet I held up through it all, doing my share of the work.
On the fourth day out I felt better, and ate a little, which strengthened me considerably. At one time during my fast I was actually so feeble that I almost weakened under the small bags of corn. Mike and his little clay pipe filled with "Sensation Tobacco," used to keep everybody on the ship in bad humor, for the odor of that pipe was enough to sicken any one. When I regained my appetite, I ate everything in sight. I did finally come to "scouse."
Well, crossing the banks of Newfoundland, the weather became intensely cold, and had we not discovered the "donkey room," I hardly know what we would have done. The "donkey room," a little place situated directly over the engines from which all the good warm air comes. This hovel was about half filled with coal, and every spare moment we spent in this room drying our clothes and warming our shivering bodies. We were no sooner dry when the spray would again drench us to the skin, and only one night during the entire trip did we sleep in dry clothes; luckily we were not subject to colds.