Hugh now came below and was hailed by Slinger, who set to work rumaging his wearing apparel from under the mattress, and so disturbed the old captain, who, however, only admonished him to "take care of the bottle," and fell a snoring again. "There!" said Slinger," as he reached the floor, "you jump into my warm place: you must have been up nearly all night." Hugh did not hesitate, but insinuated himself by degrees into Slinger's old quarters.
"I was woke up," said Slinger, "by the rolling of the ship, and those noisy rascals in the steerage kept me awake for a bit.— Only listen! do you hear that fellow singing 'My ship is my boast and my home's the wild main?' he was at prayers not very long ago, but now that he has swallowed all his week's allowance of grog, he's grown quite valiant:—by Jove I'll leave you to sleep, and I'll see if there is not some fun to be got out of him." Saying which, the flute was again put into requisition, and Hugh fell asleep with a vague idea that somebody was dancing something like a sailor's hornpipe in the next cabin.
The gale "blew itself out," to use a nautical expression, in three days, and was succeeded by several weeks of fine weather, during which time the chief amusements of the passengers were catching albatrosses with a hook baited with pork, and shooting the pretty little Cape pigeons which abound in most parts of the southern ocean. Thousands of miles from land these little rovers are observed following the ship for days together, with their gigantic companions the albatrosses, picking up any scraps of meat which happen to be cast overboard. Several whales were also seen in these latitudes.
At length the "Big Ann" entered Bass' Straits—four months after leaving England, and many were the congratulations which passed at the anticipated speedy termination of the
