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Even the never-failing resource of long yarns , which eke out many a watch , seemed to have failed us now ; for we had been so long together that we had heard each other 's stories told over and over again , till we had them by heart ; each one knew the whole history of each of the others , and we were fairly and literally talked out . The wind was still ahead , and the whole ocean , to the eastward , covered with islands and field-ice . Our sailor dresses - and we took great pains to have them neat and shipshape - were much admired , and we were invited , from every quarter , to give them an American sailor 's dance ; but after the ridiculous figure some of our countrymen cut , in dancing after the Spaniards , we thought it best to leave it to their imaginations . We came-to , in our old berth , opposite the hide-house , whose inmates were not a little surprised to see us return . Thick stockings and drawers were darned and patched ; mittens dragged from the bottom of the chest and mended ; comforters made for the neck and ears ; old flannel shirts cut up to line monkey jackets ; southwesters lined with flannel , and a pot of paint smuggled forward to give them a coat on the outside ; and everything turned to hand ; so that , although two years had left us but a scanty wardrobe , yet the economy and invention which necessity teaches a sailor , soon put each of us in pretty good trim for bad weather , even before we had seen the last of the fine . He held on to the kid till the last , like a good fellow , but the beef was gone , and when the water had run off , we saw it lying high and dry , like a rock at low tide - nothing could hurt that . It has been said , that the greatest curse to each of the South Sea islands , was the first man who discovered it ; and every one who knows anything of the history of our commerce in those parts , knows how much truth there is in this ; and that the white men , with their vices , have brought in diseases before unknown to the islanders , and which are now sweeping off the native population of the Sandwich Islands , at the rate of one fortieth of the entire population annually . Two long , heavy spars , called steeves , made of the strongest wood , and sharpened off like a wedge at one end , were placed with their wedge ends into the inside of the hide which was the centre of the book , and to the other end of each , straps were fitted , into which large tackles were hooked , composed each of two huge purchase blocks , one hooked to the strap on the end of the steeve , and the other into a dog , fastened into one of the beams , as far aft as it could be got . The last resort , that of speculating upon the future , seemed now to fail us , for our discouraging situation , and the danger we were really in , ( as we expected every day to find ourselves drifted back among the ice ) " clapped a stopper " upon all that . At the same time he cashed the order , which was endorsed to him , * and the next morning , the lad went aboard the brig , apparently in good spirits , having shaken hands with each of us and wished us a pleasant passage home , jingling the money in his pockets , and calling out , " Never say die , while there 's a shot in the locker . The next morning , we made sail at slack water , with a fair wind , and got on board by eleven o'clock , when all hands were turned-to , to unload and stow away the wood , which took till night . Sometimes , - generally towards noons , - it fell calm ; once or twice a round copper ball showed itself for a few moments in the place where the sun ought to have been ; and a puff or two came from the westward , giving some hope that a fair wind had come at last . It was a lad , between fifteen and sixteen years of age , who went by the name of the " reefer , " having been a midshipman in East India Company 's ship . At length a compromise was effected , and a middle course , of shifting the ends and backs at every lay , was adopted , which worked well , and which , though they held it inferior to their own , each party granted was better than that of the other . I could not but feel a pity for him , especially when I saw him by the side of his fellow-passenger and townsman , a fat , coarse , vulgar , pretending fellow of a Yankee trader , who had made money in San Diego , and was eating out the very vitals of the Bandinis , fattening upon their extravagance , grinding them in their poverty ; having mortgages on their lands , forestalling their cattle , and already making an inroad upon their jewels , which were their last hope . " Having collected nearly all the hides that were to be procured , we began our preparations for taking in a supply of wood and water , for both of which , San Francisco is the best place on the coast . It is very generally believed , and is always highly commended , as a fair instance of retaliatory justice . In this little , wet , leaky hole , we were all quartered , in an atmosphere so bad that our lamp , which swung in the middle from the beams , sometimes actually burned blue , with a large circle of foul air about it .