[tag=PRP | □]
[tag=PRP | □ | □]
[tag=PRP | □=□]
He knew that I had no faith in the story which he told the crew , and perhaps , in the moment of parting from me , probably forever , he would have given me the true account . The curse of a people calling themselves Christian , seems to follow them everywhere ; and even here , in this obscure place , lay two young islanders , whom I had left strong , active young men , in the vigor of health , wasting away under a disease , which they would never have known but for their intercourse with Christianized Mexico and people from Christian America . No sooner had we shoved off than he told us there was good news from Santa Barbara . We took George forward , washed him in the deck-tub , complimented his pluck , and from this time he became somebody on board , having fought himself into notice . Its great size ; - for it must have been from two to three miles in circumference , and several hundred feet in height ; - its slow motion , as ts base rose and sank in the water , and its high points nodded against the clouds ; the dashing of the waves upon it , which , breaking high with foam , lined its base with a white crust ; and the thundering sound of the cracking of the mass , and the breaking and tumbling down of huge pieces ; together with its nearness and approach , which added a slight element of fear , - all combined to give to it the character of true sublimity . On Sunday morning , as soon as the decks were washed , and we had got breakfast , those who had obtained liberty began to clean themselves , as it is called , to go ashore . As we were obliged to carry the hides on our heads from fear of their getting wet , we each had a piece of sheepskin sewed into the inside of our hats , with the wool next to our heads , and thus were able to bear the weight , day after day , which would otherwise have soon worn off our hair , and borne hard upon our skulls . She had no more life in her than if she were water-logged . I knew , too , that Captain T - - - had received orders to bring me home in the Alert , and he had told me , when I was at the hide-house , that I was to go home in her ; and even if this had not been so , it was cruel to give me no notice of the step they were going to take , until a few hours before the brig would sail . 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 . He turned fiercely upon me , and tried to look me down , and face me out of my statement ; but finding that that would n't do , and that I was entering upon my defence in such a way as would show to the other two that he was in the wrong , - he changed his ground , and pointed to the shipping papers of the Pilgrim , from which my name had never been erased , and said that there was my name , - that I belonged to her , - that he had an absolute discretionary power ; - and , in short , that I must be on board the Pilgrim by the next morning with my chest and hammock , or have some one ready to go in my place , and that he would not hear another word from me . The carpenter , who was an intelligent man , and a thorough seaman , and had great influence with the crew , came down into the forecastle , and tried to induce the crew to go aft and ask the captain why he did not run , or request him , in the name of all hands , to make sail . He was a Fin , but spoke English very well , and gave me long accounts of his country ; - the customs , the trade , the towns , what little he knew of the government , ( I found he was no friend of Russia ) , his voyages , his first arrival in America , his marriage and courtship ; - he had married a countrywoman of his , a dress-maker , whom he met with in Boston . Those who had no south-wester caps , made them , and several of the crew made themselves tarpaulin jackets and trowsers , lined on the inside with flannel . Just as she stepped from the church door , a small white cloud issued from the bows of our ship , which was full in sight , the loud report echoed among the surrounding hills and over the bay , and instantly the ship was dressed in flags and pennants from stem to stern . The first day of " all hands , " one of those little incidents occurred , which are nothing in themselves , but are great matters in the eyes of a ship 's company , as they serve to break the monotony of a voyage , and afford conversation to the crew for days afterwards . " and the like ; and we were on the forecastle , looking to see how the spars stood it , and guessing the rate at which she was going , - when the captain called out - " Mr. The Diana 's crews - a set of worthless outcasts , who had been picked up at the islands from the refuse of whale-ships , - were all as drunk as beasts , and had a set-to , on the beach , with their captain , who was in no better state than themselves . She seemed desirous of a trial of speed , and our captain accepted the challenge , although we were loaded down to the bolts of our chain plates , as deep as a sand-barge , and bound so taught with our cargo that we were no more fit for a race than a man in fetters ; - while our antagonist was in her best trim . She came in under top-gallant sails , clawed up and furled her sails in good order , and came-to , within good swinging distance of us . This afternoon , the mate asked him for a tumbler of water , and he refused to get it for him , saying that he waited upon nobody but the captain : and here he had the custom on his side . I stepped back a little , when she went up behind the Don , and with one hand knocked off his huge sombrero , and at the same instant , with the other , broke the egg upon his head , and springing behind me , was out of sight in a moment .