an' a rag as'll hold a breeze, he'll weather it somehow; nor I won't say but what Mynheer is as ugly a customer as a king's ship can get alongside of, yard-arm to yard-arm, and let the best man win! But you see him ashore! Spree, young man? Why, a Dutchman never has his spree out! You take and hail a man before the mast, able seaman or what not, when he's paid off of a cruise—and mind ye, he doesn't engage for a long spell, doesn't Mynheer—and he'll tow you into dry dock, and set you down to your grub, and blow you out with schnaps as if he was a admiral. Such a berth as he keeps ashore! Pots and pans as bright as the Eddystone; deck scoured and holystoned, till you'd like to eat your rations off of it. Why, Black Sam, him as was boatswain's mate on board of the 'Mary Rose,' sitting with me in the tap of the Golden Lion, at Amsterdam, he gets uneasy, and he looks here and there an' everywhere, first at the white floor, then at the bright stove, turning his quid about and about, till at last he ups and spits right in the landlord's face. There was a breeze then! I'm not a-goin' to deny it, but Sam he asks pardon quite gentle and humble-like, 'for what could I do?' says he; 'it was the only dirty place I could find in the house,' says he. Young chap, I'm not a-goin' to say as you should take and ship yourself on board a Dutchman; 'cause why—maybe if he struck his colours and you was found atween decks, you'd swing at the yard-arm, but if you be thinking of the king's sarvice, and you asks my advice, says I, think about it a little longer, says I. Young chap, I gives you my opinion, free. What say you, mess-*mate? Bear a hand and lower away, for I've been payin' of it out till my mouth's dry."
Bottle-Jack, who did not give his mouth a chance of becoming dry, took a long pull at the beer before he answered; but as his style was somewhat involved, and obscured besides by the free use of professional metaphors, applied in a sense none but himself could thoroughly appreciate, I will not venture to detail in his own words the copious and illustrative exposition on which he embarked.
It was obvious, however, that Bottle-Jack's inclinations were adverse to the regular service, and although he would have scouted such a notion, and probably made himself
