Bless you! I only took to the coasting line two or three years ago, when you and I first ran foul of each other; and the reason for my doing that was in cons'quence of my getting spliced, and the missus wanting me to take a 'longshore berth.
Howsomedevers, I couldn't stand it long, being once used to a decent fo'c's'le in a proper sort of vessel v'y'ging o'er the seas in true shipshape fashion; and so, I parted company with the brig and came aboard the _Esmeralda_ eighteen months ago come next July--a long spell for a sailor to stick to one ship without changing, but then Cap'en Billings 's a good sort, and he made me boatswain o' the craft last v'y'ge but one, so I hopes to remain with him longer still." "You like him, then ?" I said, tentatively, looking him straight in the face.
"Oh, aye--first-class," replied Jorrocks to my implied question, with much seriousness, "He's not only a good skipper--as good as they make 'em, treating the hands as if they were men, and not dogs--but he's a prime seaman, and knows what's what in a gale, better nor most I've ever sailed with.

Howsomedevers, he'll stand no nonsense; and when he puts his foot down, you may as well give up, as you might sooner soft-sawder a trenail into a two-inch plank as get over him and shirk your duty! The old man, easy-going when you take him right, is as stiff as a porkypine when you runs foul of his hawse; so, you'd better not try on any o' them pranks o' yours you told me you and your messmate played off on your old schoolmaster, for Cap'en Billings has cut his eye teeth, my hearty." "Why, I wouldn't dream of such a thing," I exclaimed, indignantly, "what Tom and I did to Dr Hellyer was quite different, and served him right for his cruelty." "Aye, aye, that may be accordin' to your notion," said Jorrocks, sententiously; "but that schoolmaster were the skipper of his own ship, the same as Cap'en Billings is here aboard this here craft, and it ain't right to trifle with them as is set in authority over us!" I can't tell what I might have replied to this appropriate little sermon that Jorrocks delivered about the mischievous and dangerous trick that Tom and I conspired together to commit, and which I have often subsequently reflected might have led to the most disastrous consequences, and perhaps injured the Doctor for life; but, at that moment, Captain Billings, seeing my old friend and I chatting together, came over to leeward, where we were standing.
"Hullo, boatswain!" he shouted out, "making friends with the youngster, eh ?" "Why, bless you, Cap'en Billings," answered Jorrocks, touching his cap, "he and I are old shipmates." "Indeed! I had no idea of his having been at sea before," said the skipper, apparently very much astonished at this news.
"Oh, aye, sir, he has," returned my old friend, glad to be able to put in a good word for me, as he thought, after the little lecture he had just given me.

"He was on board a coal brig with me two years ago, a coasting craft that plied up along shore to Noocastle and back; and you'll find him no green hand, Cap', but a smart able chap, one that'll get out to the weather earing when there's a call to reef topsails sooner than many a full-grown seaman, for he knows his way up the rigging." "I'm very glad to hear that," said the skipper, turning to me, with an affable smile that lighted up his twinkling blue eyes.

"When Sam Pengelly told me you were a capable lad, of course, I naturally took his opinion to proceed more from personal bias than practical comment on your seamanship; but, now that I learn from Jorrocks here, on more independent testimony, that you're no novice on board ship and have already mastered the rough rudiments of your profession in the best way possible--that of having been before the mast as a regular hand--why, you'll be able to get on all the faster, and be able to command the deck by-and-by on your own hook.

How are you up in navigation, eh ?" "I can take the sun, sir," said I, modestly, not wishing to blow my own trumpet.
"Anything else ?" "Yes, sir, I can work out a reckoning, I believe," I answered.
"Ha, humph, pretty good! I'll try you by-and-by, Leigh," said Captain Billings, turning aside for the moment to order the port watch to give one extra pull to the weather braces--"mind and bring out your sextant when you see me on deck at eight bells.