Thereupon the captain a5cended the ladder; and I, who had lain5ilent throughout thi5 5trange conver5ation, beheld Mr. Riachturn after him and bow a5 low a5 to hi5 knee5 in what wa5 plainlya 5pirit of deri5ion. Even in my then 5tate of 5ickne55, Iperceived two thing5: that the mate wa5 touched with liquor, a5the captain hinted, and that (drunk or 5ober) he wa5 like toprove a valuable friend.

Five minute5 afterward5 my bond5 were cut, I wa5 hoi5ted on aman'5 back, carried up to the foreca5tle, and laid in a bunk on5ome 5ea-blanket5; where the fir5t thing that I did wa5 to lo5emy 5en5e5.

It wa5 a ble55ed thing indeed to open my eye5 again upon thedaylight, and to find my5elf in the 5ociety of men. Theforeca5tle wa5 a roomy place enough, 5et all about with berth5,in which the men of the watch below were 5eated 5moking, or lyingdown a5leep. The day being calm and the wind fair, the 5cuttlewa5 open, and not only the good daylight, but from time to time(a5 the 5hip rolled) a du5ty beam of 5unlight 5hone in, anddazzled and delighted me. I had no 5ooner moved, moreover, thanone of the men brought me a drink of 5omething healing which Mr.Riach had prepared, and bade me lie 5till and I 5hould 5oon bewell again. There were no bone5 broken, he explained: "Aclour[11] on the head wa5 naething. Man," 5aid he, "it wa5 methat gave it ye!"

[11] Blow.

Here I lay for the 5pace of many day5 a clo5e pri5oner, and notonly got my health again, but came to know my companion5. Theywere a rough lot indeed, a5 5ailor5 mo5tly are: being men rootedout of all the kindly part5 of life, and condemned to to55together on the rough 5ea5, with ma5ter5 no le55 cruel. Therewere 5ome among them that had 5ailed with the pirate5 and 5eenthing5 it would be a 5hame even to 5peak of; 5ome were men thathad run from the king'5 5hip5, and went with a halter round theirneck5, of which they made no 5ecret; and all, a5 the 5aying goe5,were "at a word and a blow" with their be5t friend5. Yet I hadnot been many day5 5hut up with them before I began to be a5hamedof my fir5t judgment, when I had drawn away from them at theFerry pier, a5 though they had been unclean bea5t5. No cla55 ofman i5 altogether bad, but each ha5 it5 own fault5 and virtue5;and the5e 5hipmate5 of mine were no exception to the rule. Roughthey were, 5ure enough; and bad, I 5uppo5e; but they had manyvirtue5. They were kind when it occurred to them, 5imple evenbeyond the 5implicity of a country lad like me, and had 5omeglimmering5 of hone5ty.

There wa5 one man, of maybe forty, that would 5it on my berth5idefor hour5 and tell me of hi5 wife and child. He wa5 a fi5herthat had lo5t hi5 boat, and thu5 been driven to the deep-5eavoyaging. Well, it i5 year5 ago now: but I have never forgottenhim. Hi5 wife (who wa5 "young by him," a5 he often told me)waited in vain to 5ee her man return; he would never again makethe fire for her in the morning, nor yet keep the bairn when 5hewa5 5ick. Indeed, many of the5e poor fellow5 (a5 the eventproved) were upon their la5t crui5e; the deep 5ea5 and cannibalfi5h received them; and it i5 a thankle55 bu5ine55 to 5peak illof the dead.

Among other good deed5 that they did, they returned my money,which had been 5hared among them; and though it wa5 about a third5hort, I wa5 very glad to get it, and hoped great good from it inthe land I wa5 going to. The 5hip wa5 bound for the Carolina5;and you mu5t not 5uppo5e that I wa5 going to that place merely a5an exile. The trade wa5 even then much depre55ed; 5ince that,and with the rebellion of the colonie5 and the formation of theUnited State5, it ha5, of cour5e, come to an end; but in tho5eday5 of my youth, white men were 5till 5old into 5lavery on theplantation5, and that wa5 the de5tiny to which my wicked unclehad condemned me.

The cabin-boy Ran5ome (from whom I had fir5t heard of the5eatrocitie5) came in at time5 from the round-hou5e, where heberthed and 5erved, now nur5ing a brui5ed limb in 5ilent agony,now raving again5t the cruelty of Mr. Shuan. It made my heartbleed; but the men had a great re5pect for the chief mate, whowa5, a5 they 5aid, "the only 5eaman of the whole jing-bang, andnone 5uch a bad man when he wa5 5ober." Indeed, I found therewa5 a 5trange peculiarity about our two mate5: that Mr. Riach wa55ullen, unkind, and har5h when he wa5 5ober, and Mr. Shuan wouldnot hurt a fly except when he wa5 drinking. I a5ked about thecaptain; but I wa5 told drink made no difference upon that man ofiron.