"Well, I gave up my cabin to the old lady, and hung up my cot in the
gun-room during the passage home.
"We were becalmed abreast of Ceuta for two days. The old lady was very
particular about her pug-dog, and I superintended the washing of the
little brute twice a week; but at last I was tired of it, and gave him
to my coxswain to bathe. My coxswain, who was a lazy fellow, without my
knowledge, used to put the little beast into the bight of a rope, and
tow him overboard for a minute or so. It was during this calm that he
had him overboard in this way, when a confounded shark rose from under
the counter, and took in the pug-dog at one mouthful. The coxswain
reported the loss as a thing of no consequence; but I knew better, and
put the fellow in irons. I then went down and broke the melancholy fact
to Miss Kearney, stating that I had put the man in irons, and would flog
him well. The old lady broke out into a most violent passion at the
intelligence, declared that it was my fault, that I was jealous of the
dog, and had done it on purpose. The more I protested, the more she
raved; and at last I was obliged to go on deck to avoid her abuse and
keep my temper. I had not been on deck five minutes before she came up--
that is, was shoved up--for she was so heavy that she could not get up
without assistance. You know how elephants in India push the cannon
through a morass with their heads from behind; well, my steward used to
shove her up the companion-ladder just in the same way, with his head
completely buried in her petticoats.
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