His next chance was
with the carpenter and sail-maker, and he lounged round the after
hatchway until the last had gone down. We had now had fun enough out
of him, and taking pity on him, offered him a pot of tea, and a cut at
the kid, with the rest, in the forecastle. He was hungry, and it was
growing dark, and he began to see that there was no use in playing the
caballero any longer, and came down into the forecastle, put into
the "grub" in sailor's style, threw off all his airs, and enjoyed
the joke as much as any one; for a man must take a joke among sailors.
He gave us the whole account of his adventures in the country,-
roguery and all- and was very entertaining. He was a smart,
unprincipled fellow, was at the bottom of most of the rascally doings
of the country, and gave us a great deal of interesting information in
the ways of the world we were in.
Saturday, Feb. 13th. Were called up at midnight to slip for a
violent north-easter, for this rascally hole of San Pedro is unsafe in
every wind but a south-wester, which is seldom known to blow more than
once in a half century. We went off with a flowing sheet, and
hove-to under the lee of Catalina island, where we lay three days, and
then returned to our anchorage.
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