Now,
what keeps a woman stiff under her canvas is her modesty."
"Very true; but it's a rare commodity on the beach."
"And why, Mr Simple? because liquor is more valued. Many a good man has
found it to be his bane; and as for a woman, when once she takes to it,
she's like a ship without a rudder, and goes right before the wind to
the devil. Not that I think a man ought not to take a nor-wester or two,
when he can get them. Rum was not given by God Almighty only to make the
niggers dance, but to make all our hearts glad; neither do I see why a
woman is to stand out neither; what's good for Jack can't hurt Poll;
only there is a medium, as they say, in all things, and half-an-half is
quite strong enough."
"I should think it was," replied I, laughing.
"But don't be letting me prevent you from keeping a look-out, Mr
Simple.--You, Hoskins, you're half a point off the wind. Luff you may.--
I think, Mr Simple, that Captain O'Brien didn't pick out the best man,
when he made Tom Alsop a quarter-master in my place."
"Why, he is a very steady, good man, Swinburne."
"Yes, so he is; but he has natural defects, which shouldn't be
overlooked. I doubt if he can see so far as the head of the mainsail."
"I was not aware of that."
"No, but I was. Alsop wants to sarve out his time for his pension, and
when he has sarved, you see if, when the surgeons examine him, they
don't invalid him, as blind as a bat. I should like to have him as
gunner's mate, and that's just what he's fit for.
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