on a coil of rope, so that my head hung down within it.

The rain all this time was beating on me, and I was drenched to the skin. I
must have slept for four hours or so, when I was awakened by a rough thump
on the side from the stumbling foot of the captain of the top, the word
having been passed to shake a reef out of the topsails, the wind having
rather suddenly gone down. It was done; and now broad awake, I determined
not to be caught napping again, so I descended, and swung myself in on deck
out of the main rigging, just as Mr Treenail was mustering the crew at
eight bells. When I landed on the quarterdeck, there he stood abaft the
binnacle, with the light shining on his face, his glazed hat glancing, and
the rain--drop sparkling at the brim of it. He had noticed me the moment I
descended.

"Heyday, Master Cringle, you are surely out of your watch. Why, what are
you doing here, eh?"

I stepped up to him, and told him the truth, that, being over fatigued, I
had fallen asleep in the top.

"Well, well, boy," said he, "never mind, go below, and turn in; if you
don't take your rest, you never will be a sailor."

"But what do you see aloft?" glancing his eye upwards, and all the crew on
deck as I passed them looked anxiously up also amongst the rigging, as if
wondering what I saw there, for I had been so chilled in my noose, that my
neck, from resting in the cold on the coil of rope, had become stiffened
and rigid to an intolerable degree; and although, when I first came on
deck, I had by a strong exertion brought my caput to its proper bearings,
yet the moment I was dismissed by my superior officer, I for my own