"An' with that she set up a weepin' an' wailin' that her son didn't love her, till I'm blowed ef the old man didn't go an' shift the lights to suit her. An' then we had to put on double lookouts fur fear we'd run into somethin'. O' course soon's she went below we shifted 'em back. In the mid-watch 't come on to blow putty fresh, and I, bein' on watch, sung out a few orders about reefin', an' the watch jumped to work. Up come the old woman in a long night-gown an' a red flannel night-cap, two steps at a time.
"'Wot d'ye mean,' she yells, 'a-raisin' such a racket up here at this time o' night? It's time all decent people was in bed. Shame on ye! Shame on ye! Roisterin' an' carousin' out here this way! Go to bed, ye miserable sinners, go to bed!'
"I tried to explain to her as how the schooner'd got to be worked through the night.
"'Nonsense!' sez she to me, sez she; 'my son Janders'd never make no man work all night. He'd stop the ship an' have a night watchman to mind her till mornin'. This are some o' your doin'. You're the wust o' the hull lot. Th' idee of your bein' out this time o' night. You're old nuff to know better!'
"By that time the Cap'n were on deck, an' somehow he coaxed her to go below an' stay there. But the werry next mornin' she were at 't ag'in. We started in to wash down decks, an' up she come without her hat on an' her hair all up in yaller curl-papers. She tuk one look along the deck, an' then she bruk out:
"'Waal, of all the oncivilized ways o' cleanin' a floor I must say I 'ain't never seed nothin like that. Squirtin' onto 't with a hose! Janders! Janders! Come out here!'
"The Cap'n come on deck lookin' putty tired, an' she sez to he, sez she:
"'I won't stand it—I won't! Make them lazy men git soap an' water an' scrubbin'-brushes, an' git right down on their knees an' scrub the floor honest. Th' idee o' squirtin' onto 't!'
"An' by the great hook block we had to do 't. Right down onto our knees, es ef we wus so many old women hired out fur to do cookin', washin', an' ironin! Waal, ye may keel-haul me an' copper-bottom me on top o' my head with yaller paper ef I didn't begin fur to git putty mad. I made up my mind that the next thing o' that sort wot the old girl called out fur us to do were not a-goin' fur to be did. Waal, it weren't so werry long afore the trouble bruk loose. We had a little more wind than we wanted day afore yistiddy, an' afore we could git the torps'ls clewed down there were a hit of a split in one ov 'em. Yistiddy I got my sail needle an' palm an' were a-startin' to go up to mend the sail. The old woman stopped me an' asked me wot I were a-goin' to do. She looked at me an' at the sail needle an' the palm, an' then she let go:
"'I 'ain't never seed sich an old heathen in the hull course o' my life,' sez she. 'The idee o' climbin' up there an' riskin' your life w'en you could have the sail brung down! An' then to try to sew it with sich things as them! I won't stand it, that are all I got to say.'