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" - " No , you do n't ! Not a drop of anything had been given them during the whole time , ( though the captain , as on the night that I was on deck , had his coffee every four hours , ) except that the mate stole a potful of coffee for two men to drink behind the galley , while he kept a look-out for the captain . Finding neither willing to make an offer for reconciliation , he called all hands up , ( for the captain was ashore , and he could do as he chose aboard , ) ranged the crew in the waist , marked a line on the deck , brought the two boys up to it , making them " toe the mark ; " then made the bight of a rope fast to a belaying pin , and stretched it across the deck , bringing it just above their waists . He promised to take his medicines regularly until we returned , and insisted upon it that he was doing better . Indeed among people of the character of these Mexicans , the waltz seemed to me to have found its right place . " Battle-songs , drinking-songs , boat-songs , love-songs , and everything else , they seemed to have a complete assortment of , and I was glad to find that " All in the Downs , " " Poor Tom Bowline , " " The Bay of Biscay , " " List , ye Landsmen ! Here we found our companions who had refused to go to ride with us , thinking that a sailor has no more business with a horse than a fish has with a balloon . The mate walked the deck , looking at the sails , and then over the side to see the foam fly by her , slapping his hands upon his thighs and talking to the ship - " Hurrah , you jade , you've got the scent ! He gave me a strong gripe with his hand ; and I told him , if he came to Boston again , not to fail to find me out , and let me see an old watchmate . " Upon the whole , we were perfectly satisfied that the Alert might hold up her head with a ship twice as smart as she . A tall , stately Don , with immense grey whiskers , and a look of great importance , was standing before me , when I felt a light hand on my shoulder , and turning round , saw Donna Angustia , ( whom we all knew , as she had been up to Monterey , and down again , in the Alert , ) with her finger upon her lip , motioning me gently aside . Such a sight , very few , even some who have been at sea a great deal , have ever beheld ; for from the deck of your own vessel you cannot see her , as you would a separate object . They were moored , stem and stern , in a grog-shop , making a great noise , with a crowd of Indians and hungry half-breeds about them , and with a fair prospect of being stripped and dirked , or left to pass the night in the calabozo . As soon as the sea had washed by , all hands sprung out of the forecastle to see what had become of the ship and in a few moments the cook and old Bill crawled out from under the galley , where they had been lying in the water , nearly smothered , with the galley over them . As soon as I had got my wits about me , I put on a bold front , and told him plainly that I had a letter in my chest informing me that he had been written to , by the owners in Boston , to bring me home in the ship , and moreover , that he had told me that I was to go in the ship . You're frightened by the ducking you got in the scuppers , and ca n't take a joke ! Hope shook me by the hand , said he should soon be well again , and ready to work for me when I came upon the coast , next voyage , as officer of the ship ; and told me not to forget , when I became captain , how to be kind to the sick . When the watch was changed I went into the steerage , and took off my hat and comforter , and showed my face to the mate , who told me to go below at once , and stay in my berth until the swelling went down , and gave the cook orders to make a poultice for me , and said he would speak to the captain . A bar stretches across the mouth of the harbor , with water enough to float common vessels , but , being low in the water , and having kept well to leeward , as we were bound to the southward , we had stuck fast , while the California , being light , had floated over . Two men threw the hides down from the piles in the house , two more picked them up and put them on a long horizontal pole , raised a few feet from the ground , where they were beaten , by two more , with flails , somewhat like those used in threshing wheat .