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They began soon after we came on board , and kept it up until after two bells , when the second mate came forward and called " the Alerts away ! He told them what he had heard , and said that he did not believe that they would try to do any such thing as was intimated ; that they had always been good men , - obedient , and knew their duty , and he had no fault to find with them ; and asked them what they had to complain of - said that no one could say that he was slow to carry sail , ( which was true enough ;) and that , as soon as he thought it was safe and proper , he should make sail . The prospect of meeting this in a ship half manned , and loaded so deep that every heavy sea must wash her fore and aft , was by no means pleasant . Every one was on the alert , and even the two sick men turned out to lend a hand at the halyards . The second mate was aloft , and the third mate and myself were painting the quarter-boat , which hung by the davits , so he betook himself to us ; but we looked at one another , and the officer was too busy to say a word . " said the second mate , coming slowly forward . They had been waked out of their sleep , and as much alarmed at the scream as we were , and were hesitating whether to come on deck , when the second sound , coming directly from one of the berths , revealed the cause of the alarm . We were not mistaken in the coldness of the weather , for a white frost was on the ground , a thing we had never seen before in California , and one or two little puddles of fresh water were skimmed over with a thin coat of ice .