I expected surely the
Captain and his men would come and put the unruly fellow in irons, and
there might be a fight or a riot, so I cut my meal short and went on
deck about as soon as I could do so, thinking that would be a safer
place. But the Captain seemed to know about how to manage such fellows,
and never left his stateroom, which I think was a wise move. The darky
did not make his appearance at table afterwards, and the man who threw
the bowl said that colored folks had to mind a gentleman when he spoke
to them, or fare worse.
The Captain now got out his passenger list, and we all had to pass
through a narrow space near the wheel-house and every one answer to his
name and show his ticket. This made work for about one day. Some
stowaways were found and put down into the hole to heave coal. One day
the Captain and mate were out taking an observation on the sun when a
young Missourian stepped up to see what was being done, and said to the
Captain:--"Captain, don't you think I could learn how to do that kind of
business?" The Captain took the young man's hand and looked at his nails
which were very rough and dirty and said:--"No my lad; boys with such
finger nails can't learn navigation." This made a big laugh at the brave
lubber's expense.
Many of the sea-sick ones did not get up so soon, and some died of that,
or something else, and their bodies were sewed up in blankets with a
bushel of coal at their feet to sink them, and thrown overboard.
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