Here, instead of being rudely handled, as I had expected, the men
received me with a shout of laughter, and one of them, patting me
on the back, said, "Well done, lad! you're a brick, and I have no
doubt will turn out a rare cove. Bloody Bill, there, was just such
a fellow as you are, and he's now the biggest cut-throat of us
all."

"Take a can of beer, lad," cried another, "and wet your whistle
after that speech o' your'n to the captain. If any one o' us had
made it, youngster, he would have had no whistle to wet by this
time."

"Stop your clapper, Jack," vociferated a third; "give the boy a
junck o' meat. Don't you see he's a'most goin' to kick the
bucket?"

"And no wonder," said the first speaker, with an oath, "after the
tumble you gave him into the boat. I guess it would have broke
YOUR neck if you had got it."

I did indeed feel somewhat faint; which was owing, doubtless, to
the combined effects of ill-usage and hunger; for it will be
recollected that I had dived out of the cave that morning before
breakfast, and it was now near mid-day. I therefore gladly
accepted a plate of boiled pork and a yam, which were handed to me
by one of the men from the locker on which some of the crew were
seated eating their dinner. But I must add that the zest with
which I ate my meal was much abated in consequence of the frightful
oaths and the terrible language that flowed from the lips of these
godless men, even in the midst of their hilarity and good-humour.