Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

om the bay. The vessel we sought lay with her main-topsail aback about a league

ill state of affairs aboard. The four boats hanging from her sides proclaimed her a whaler. Leaning carelessly over the bulwarks were the sailors, wild, haggard-looking fellows

chief mate. He wore a broad-brimmed Panama hat

tement, all gesture and vociferation, my own appearance was calculated to excite curiosity. A robe of the native cloth was thrown over my shoulders, my hair and beard were uncut, and I bet

ce touched the ship in which I sailed from home. The other was a young man whom, four years previous, I had frequently met in a sailor boarding-house in Liverpool. I remembered parting with him at Prince's Dock Gates, in the midst of a swarm o

ere I was sent for into

e delirious; so that of all I then went on to relate concerning my residence on the island I can scarcely remember a word. After this I was asked whether I desired to "ship"; of course I said yes; that is, if he would allow me to e

, let it be borne in mind, that the captain felt any great compassion for

sail, making so big a bundle that, with my feet resting on the windlass, I might have been taken for a sailor with the gout. While this was going on, someone removing my tappa cloak slipped on a blue frock i

of the most ardent hopes. Safe aboard of a ship-so long my earnest prayer-with home and friends once more in prospect, I nevertheless felt weighed down by a melancholy that could not be

, and the wild noise and motion of a ship at sea, that at times my recent adventures had all the strangeness of a dream; and I could scarcely believe t

n handed me, containing about half a pint of "tea"-so called by courtesy, though whether the juice of such stalks as one finds floating therein deserves that title, is a matter all shipowners must settle with their conscien

forecastles is at all fastidious; and so, after a few vigorous whiffs to induce repose, I turned over and tried my best to forget myself. But in vain. My crib, instead of extending fore and aft, as it should have done, was placed athwart ships, that is, at right angles to the keel, and the vessel, going before

call of the watch, a peep of daylight struggled into view from a

"help me out of this pla

king of the cannibals, is it you I But I say, my lad, how's that spar of your'n? the mate says it's in a dev

natives who had brought me to the ship. Upon its return, we made sail again, and stood off from the land. There was a fine breeze; and notwi

ing freely with the men, I learned the history of the voyage thus

now throw together