CHAPTER XV
A FLOGGING--A NIGHT ON SHORE--THE STATE OF THINGS ON BOARD--SAN
DIEGO
For several days the captain seemed very much out of humor. Nothing
went right, or fast enough for him. He quarrelled with the cook, and
threatened to flog him for throwing wood on deck; and had a dispute
with the mate about reeving a Spanish burton; the mate saying that
he was right, and had been taught how to do it by a man who was a
sailor! This, the captain took in dudgeon, and they were at sword's
points at once. But his displeasure was chiefly turned against a
large, heavy-moulded fellow from the Middle States, who was called
Sam. This man hesitated in his speech, and was rather slow in his
motions, but was a pretty good sailor, and always seemed to do his
best; but the captain took a dislike to him, thought he was surly, and
lazy; and "if you once give a dog a bad name"- as the sailor-phrase
is- "he may as well jump overboard." The captain found fault with
everything this man did, and hazed him for dropping a marline-spike
from the main-yard, where he was at work. This, of course, was an
accident, but it was set down against him.
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