if
he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
get as little of foul in one of our vessels ofwhere I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!

I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
that day, but kept on drinking--eating