"And how did you manage it in a calm?" I asked.
"That's the beauty of it," replied the cooper. "We attached a crank to the shaft of the mill, and a long iron rod came down on deck, and was worked by a couple of men on a big treadle."
"And how did you like the treadmill exercise?" inquired the mate.
"That was pretty hard work; and you may depend we were glad enough to see a breeze coming to drive the vanes. But it was better than working brakes by hand, which would have kept four men at work, to man both pumps."
"Then you mean to say that both pumps were going all the time?" said Mr. Bunker.
"Certainly," returned the cooper. "And she leaked at the same rate all the time; no more when pitching in a gale of wind than when lying becalmed in smooth water; and no more at the end of the voyage than when six weeks out from home, which was the time that the leak first started. Why, she leaked so that when we were crossing the tropical latitudes, we used frequently to pump live flying fish! and once or twice the pumps got completely choked with Portuguese men-of-war!"
"That's nothing at all!" put in the second mate, who happened to be within hearing. "I've heard say that, on board the old Yorkshire, they used to take off the lower-deck hatches, sit on the combings, and fish for skipjacks and albicore in the hold!"
"Yes! fish for them, indeed," said the cooper, "but did they catch any?"
"I've heard say they did," said Mr. Dunham. "I didn't see this myself."