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At night , after we had knocked off , and were sitting round in the forecastle , smoking and talking and taking sailor 's pleasure , we congratulated ourselves upon being in that situation in which we had wished ourselves every time we had come into San Diego . " We were half in the rigging before the order came , and never since we left Boston were the gaskets off the yards , and the rigging overhauled , in a shorter time . The hands had " knocked off " for dinner , and were standing about the forecastle , when Ben came forward and told his story . 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 . But no description can give any idea of the strangeness , splendor , and , really , the sublimity , of the sight . This was pretty tough work for four or five hands , in the face of a gale which almost took us off the yards , and with ropes so stiff with ice that it was almost impossible to bend them . 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 . When we got down into the forecastle , Old Bill , who was somewhat of a croaker , - having met with a great many accidents at sea - said that if that was the way she was going to act , we might as well make our wills , and balance the books at once , and put on a clean shirt . He is bound in gallantry to find out the lady and return the compliment , though it must not be done if the person sees you . Being so deep and heavy , she wanted the buoyancy which should have carried her over the seas , and she dropped heavily into them , the water washing over the decks ; and every now and then , when an unusually large sea met her fairly upon the bows , she struck it with a sound as dead and heavy as that with which a sledge-hammer falls upon the pile , and took the whole of it in upon the forecastle , and rising , carried it aft in the scuppers , washing the rigging off the pins , and carrying along with it everything which was loose on deck .