On The Night Of The Entertainment
At The Rosa's House, I Saw Old Schmidt, (That Was The Austrian's Name)
Standing Up By A Hogshead, Holding On By Both Hands, And Calling Out
To Himself - "Hold On, Schmidt!
Hold on, my good fellow, or you'll
be on your back!" Still, he was an intelligent, good-natured old
fellow, and had a chest-full of books, which he willingly lent
me to read.
In the same house with him was a Frenchman and an
Englishman; the latter a regular-built "man-of-war Jack;" a thorough
seaman; a hearty, generous fellow; and, at the same time, a drunken,
dissolute dog. He made it a point to get drunk once a fortnight,
(when he always managed to sleep on the road, and have his money
stolen from him,) and to battle the Frenchman once a week.
These, with a Chilian, and a half a dozen Kanakas, formed the
addition to our company.
In about six weeks from the time when the Pilgrim sailed, we had
got all the hides which she left us cured and stowed away;
and having cleared up the ground, and emptied the vats, and set
everything in order, had nothing more to do until she should come
down again, but to supply ourselves with wood. Instead of going
twice a week for this purpose, we determined to give one whole
week to getting wood, and then we should have enough to last us
half through the summer. Accordingly, we started off every morning,
after an early breakfast, with our hatchets in hand, and cut wood
until the sun was over the point, - which was our only mark of time,
as there was not a watch on the beach - and then came back to dinner,
and after dinner, started off again with our hand-cart and ropes,
and carted and "backed" it down, until sunset. This, we kept up for
a week, until we had collected several cords, - enough to last us for
six or eight weeks - when we "knocked off" altogether, much to my joy;
for, though I liked straying in the woods, and cutting, very well,
yet the backing the wood for so great a distance, over an uneven
country, was, without exception, the hardest work I had ever done.
I usually had to kneel down and contrive to heave the load, which
was well strapped together, upon my back, and then rise up and
start off with it up the hills and down the vales, sometimes through
thickets, - the rough points sticking into the skin, and tearing the
clothes, so that, at the end of the week, I had hardly a whole shirt
to my back.
We were now through all our work, and had nothing more to do until
the Pilgrim should come down again. We had nearly got through
our provisions too, as well as our work; for our officer had
been very wasteful of them, and the tea, flour, sugar, and molasses,
were all gone.
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