Jist d'ye go oop that ladder there, an' wait out av harum's way till I've done me job an' can come for ye." He pointed as he spoke to the steps or stairway leading from the main- deck, where I had been standing alongside of him, to the poop.
I at once obeyed him; and, ascending with alacrity the poop ladder, was able to see from that elevated position the capital way in which he urged on and encouraged the men, until, as if by magic, the heavy boxes and lumbering crates that had but a short time before almost covered the jetty beside the ship, were all hoisted inboard and lowered down into her hold.
Here, below, another gang of stevedores, not less busy than those above, took charge of the stowage of the cargo, slamming the chests and crates about, and so ramming and jamming them between the decks by the aid of jack-screws, that they were soon packed together in one homogeneous mass--so tightly squeezed that not even a cockroach could have crawled in between them, not a single crack or cranny being left vacant.
"Thare now! Sure, an' that job's done wid anyhow for this v'yge, plaize the pigs, ma bouchal!" exclaimed the boatswain with a jolly laugh, after seeing the main-hatchway covered and battened down, and a tarpaulin spread over it to make all snug, gazing round with an air of proud satisfaction, as he slowly made his way up the poop ladder again and came up to where I was standing by the rail looking over.

"Don't ye think we've made pretty sharp work of it at the last, sorr, eh ?" "I'm sure you have, Mr Rooney," I replied enthusiastically.

For, I could not help admiring the way in which he had got the stevedores to work so steadily and speedily in getting in the cargo and clearing the ship's deck, so that it was now trim and orderly in place of being littered over with lumber as previously--the active boatswain helping one here, encouraging another there, and making all laugh occasionally with some racy joke, that seemed to lighten their labour greatly and cause them to set to their task with redoubled vigour.--"It's wonderful how you managed them." "Arrah, sure it's a way I've got wid me, honey," said he with a wink.
Still, I could see he was pleased with my remark all the same, from the smile of contentment that overspread his face as he added: "Bless ye though, me darlint, sure an' it's ownly blarney arter all!" "And what is that ?" I asked.
"Faix, ya moost go owver to old Oireland to larn, me bhoy," he answered with a laugh.

"Wait till ye kiss the blarney stone, an' thin ye'll know!" "I suppose it's what father calls the _suaviter in modo_," said I, laughing also, he put on such a droll look.

"And I think, Mr Rooney, you possess the _fortiter in re_, too, from the way you can speak sometimes." "Bedad, I don't ondercumstubble," he replied, taking off his cap and scratching his head reflectively, rather taken aback by my Latin quotation; "though if that haythen lingo manes soft sawder, by the powers I've got lashins av it! Howsomedevers, youngster, we naydn't argify the p'int; but if the foorst mate were ownly aboord, d'ye know what I'd loike to do ?" "What ?" I inquired.
"Why, trate them dock loompers to grog all round.