mighty savage we were at being kept so long before we
could get off; but the time came at last, and only just
taking a few things each in a handkerchief, we slipped
over the ship's side, dropped on to the wharf, and were
oflf.
" Well, being reg'lar old shipmates, you see, it was only
natural that we should drop into a little public-house
that was down Wapping way, to take a glass or two by
way of a treat, and see about a night's lodging where
we could be together, as it was quite evening, and we'd
some way to go into the country both of us, and meant
to leave it till morning. A nice little place it was, close
aside a wharf, where the tide came up, and ship after
ship — colliers I think they were — ^lay in tiers, moored
head and stem ; in short, just such a place as a sailor
would choose for a quiet glass and a night's lodging,
being snug and cosy-looking. But there, for the matter of
that, after a poor fellow's had years at sea, knocking
about in the close forks'll of a ship, everything looks
snug and cosy ashore.
