"I was just going off to sleep," he ses, "when I felt a sort of hot pain in my left knee. O' course, I knew what it meant at once, and instead o' taking some of the pellets I thought I'd try your remedy instead. It's a bit nippy, but I don't mind that if it does me good."
He laughed a silly sort o' laugh, and then I'm blest if 'e didn't sit down in that mud and waller in it. Then he'd get up and come for'ard two or three steps and sit down agin.
"Ain't you sitting down, Bill?" he ses, arter a time.
"No," I ses, "I'm not."
"I don't think you can expect to get the full benefit unless you do," he ses, coming up close to me and sitting down agin. "It's a bit of a shock at fust, but Halloa!"
"Wot's up?" I ses.
"Sitting on something hard," he ses. "I wish people 'ud be more careful."
He took a list to port and felt under the star-board side. Then he brought his 'and up and tried to wipe the mud off and see wot he 'ad got.
"Wot is it?" I ses, with a nasty sinking sort o' feeling inside me.
"I don't know," he ses, going on wiping. "It's soft outside and 'ard inside. It——"