a friendly way, and asked them if they did not feel themselves to be
a set of fools, to think of going to sea with a murdering villain
like Blogg?

Dick Secker replied mildly but firmly. He reckoned the crew were, in
a general way, able to take care of themselves. They could do their
duty, whatever it was; and they were not afraid of sailing with any
man that ever trod a deck.

After a few days at sea they were able to form a correct estimate of
their master mariner. He never came on deck absolutely drunk, but he
was saturated with rum to the very marrow of his bones. A devil of
cruelty, hate, and murder glared from his eyes, and his blasphemies
could come from no other place but the lowest depths of the
bottomless pit. The mate was comparatively a gentle and inoffensive
lamb. He did not curse and swear more than was considered decent and
proper on board ship, did his duty, and avoided quarrels.

One day Blogg was rating the cook in his usual style when the latter
made some reply, and the captain knocked him down. He then called
the mate, and with his help stripped the cook to the waist and triced
him up to the mast on the weather side. This gave the captain the
advantage of a position in which he could deliver his blows downward
with full effect. Then he selected a rope's end and began to flog
the cook. At every blow he made a spring on his feet, swung the rope
over his head, and brought it down on the bare back with the utmost
force. It was evident that he was no 'prentice hand at the business,
but a good master flogger. The cook writhed and screamed, as every
stroke raised bloody ridges on his back; but Blogg enjoyed it. He
was in no hurry. He was like a boy who had found a sweet morsel, and