The Head Stays And Guys, And The
Spritsail-Yard, Were Lined, And, Having Still More, We Got Out The
Swinging Booms, And Strung Them And The Forward And After Guys,
With Hides.
The rail, fore and aft, the windlass, capstan, the
sides of the ship, and every vacant place on deck,
Were covered
with wet hides, on the least sign of an interval for drying.
Our ship was nothing but a mass of hides, from the cat-harpins
to the water's edge, and from the jib-boom-end to the taffrail.
One cold, rainy evening, about eight o'clock, I received orders to
get ready to start for San José at four the next morning, in one of
these Indian boats, with four days' provisions. I got my oil-cloth
clothes, south-wester, and thick boots all ready, and turned into
my hammock early, determined to get some sleep in advance, as the
boat was to be alongside before daybreak. I slept on till all hands
were called in the morning; for, fortunately for me, the Indians,
intentionally, or from mistaking their orders, had gone off alone
in the night, and were far out of sight. Thus I escaped three or
four days of very uncomfortable service.
Four of our men, a few days afterwards, went up in one of the
quarter-boats to Santa Clara, to carry the agent, and remained
out all night in a drenching rain, in the small boat, where there
was not room for them to turn round; the agent having gone up to
the mission and left the men to their fate, making no provision
for their accommodation, and not even sending them anything
to eat.
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