The drunken men and their chests were all taken down into the forecastle; but when we attempted to follow, we were told to stay on deck and do our work, though what that work was proved a mystery to us.
Seeing men coiling up ropes and hanging them on to belaying pins, we tried to do the same, but only got cuffs and blows for doing it wrong; so we sheltered ourselves under the long-boat, thinking that if this was going to sea, it would have been much better to have remained in the workhouse to become a carpenter and a shoemaker.
Here we cowered away during the long and dreary night, and to add to our discomfort, the ship being close to the wind, bobbing into a choppy head-sea, we became dreadfully seasick.
At last daylight came, and we were found and routed out of our refuge, and brought before the mate who had the morning watch.
“Hallo! Who are you, and where did you come from?” he shouted.
We stood sillily before him, and answered, “Please, sir, we’re the two apprentices Captain Haxell brought off last night.”
“Apprentices! I never heard of our old man having apprentices before; but where’s your kit, and the rest?”
“Kit, sir—what’s that?”
“Your chests, beds, clothes, you greenhorns.”
“Please, sir, we’ve only what we’ve got on.”