University of Virginia Library

And so he gave her to me, and so
I says—“It's time for us to go”;
And made her fast across my hips—
“Now, then!” I says, and in I slips—
Easy, you know, very easy, and humours
All I could, and makes these boomers
Ride me as nice as possible,
And treadin' the trough, you know; but still
She hung upon my back like death—
Not a word! no, no! not a sound! not a breath!
I thought she was dead—not the smallest tick
In all her body—so I struck out quick
And hard; but a sea come tearin' along,
And caught me up, and wrenched me that strong,
And bothered me, that the next that came
Knocked me over like a bame—
Senseless—like a log of timber—
And so, of course, that's all I remember
Till I felt the smell of a body smookin',
And a lot of people round me lookin',
And three of us side by side there lyin'—
The Captain, and me, and Nelly Quine—
Her in the middle—but they'd turned her head
Away from the Captain, because he was dead—
Dead, poor chap! But Nelly, the sowl!
Was sleepin' just like a two-year-old.
“Hullo!” says I; “hullo!” says Nickey—
Him that was smookin', and likewise Mickey—
Clague, I mean. So then they stated
How the young Captain waited and waited
Till he seen the lot of them landed there,
And then he jumped, and swam very fair,
Strong, they said, but cautiously—
When, all of a sudden! the boom, d'ye see!
That was soulgerin' about in the trough,
Gave a heave, and a drop! and hit him, my gough!
Hit him just aback of the skull,
And knocked him over like a bull—
Killed him, it's lek, upon the spot:
For when the body come in, they got
No signs of life, nor nothin' in it—
Killed him, I expec', that minute.