corner, I answered very promptly, scenting a berth. "Lookin'
fer a ship, stranger?" said he. "Yes; do you want a hand?" said
I, anxiously. He made a funny little sound something like a
pony's whinny, then answered, "Wall, I should surmise that I
want between fifty and sixty hands, ef yew kin lay me onto 'em;
but, kem along, every dreep's a drop, an' yew seem likely
enough." With that he turned and led the way until we reached a
building around which were gathered one of the most nondescript
crowds I had ever seen. There certainly did not appear to be a
sailor among them. Not so much by their rig, though that is not
a great deal to go by, but by their actions and speech. One
thing they all had in common, tobacco chewing but as nearly
every male I met with in America did that, it was not much to be
noticed. I had hardly done reckoning them up when two or three
bustling men came out and shepherded us all energetically into a
long, low room, where some form of agreement was read out to us.
Sailors are naturally and usually careless about the nature of
the "articles" they sign, their chief anxiety being to get to
sea, and under somebody's charge. But had I been ever so
anxious to know what I was going to sign this time, I could not,
for the language might as well have been Chinese for all I
understood of it. However, I signed and passed on, engaged to
go I knew not where, in some ship I did not know even the name
of, in which I was to receive I did not know how much, or how
little, for my labour, nor how long I was going to be away.
"What a young fool!" I hear somebody say. I quite agree, but
there were a good many more in that ship, as in most ships that
I have ever sailed in.

From the time we signed the articles, we were never left to