Accordingly I Was
Called Upon, And Went Up, Repeating The Operations Over In My Mind,
Taking Care To Get Everything In Its Order, For The Slightest Mistake
Spoils The Whole.
Fortunately, I got through without any word from
the officer, and heard the "well done" of the mate, when the yard
reached the deck, with as much satisfaction as I ever felt at Cambridge
on seeing a "bene" at the foot of a Latin exercise.
CHAPTER XII
LIFE AT MONTEREY
The next day being Sunday, which is the liberty-day among merchantmen,
when it is usual to let a part of the crew go ashore, the sailors had
depended upon a day on land, and were already disputing who should
ask to go, when, upon being called in the morning, we were turned-to
upon the rigging, and found that the topmast, which had been sprung,
was to come down, and a new one to go up, and top-gallant and royal-masts,
and the rigging to be set up. This was too bad. If there is anything that
irritates sailors and makes them feel hardly used, it is being deprived
of their Sabbath. Not that they would always, or indeed generally,
spend it religiously, but it is their only day of rest. Then, too,
they are often necessarily deprived of it by storms, and unavoidable
duties of all kinds, that to take it from them when lying quietly
and safely in port, without any urgent reason, bears the more hardly.
The only reason in this case was, that the captain had determined to
have the custom-house officers on board on Monday, and wished to have
his brig in order.
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